TL;DR
- Senator Lummis denies rumors that the BRCA developer protections are cut.
- The BRCA protects developers who do not control user funds from licensing.
- Paradigm warns industry will walk away if protections are removed.
Senator Cynthia Lummis publicly dismissed speculation that circulated this week about a potential removal of Web3 developer protections from the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act.
The response came after rumors pointed to Coinbase as willing to sacrifice those protections ā along with bitcoin’s tax exemption ā to secure a deal on stablecoin yield. Lummis was direct: “This is not true. The BRCA is not on the chopping block. I think I would know, since this is my bill with Ron Wyden.“
This is not true. The BRCA is not on the chopping block– I think I would know since this is my bill with @RonWyden š
— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) March 12, 2026
What the BRCA Protects and Why It Matters
Lummis and Senator Ron Wyden introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) in January 2026. The bill establishes one central principle: if a service provider does not control user funds, it should not be required to obtain a money transmitter license.
The legislation covers three groups of actors:
- Open-source software developers
- Node operators and transaction validators
- Non-custodial infrastructure providers
The BRCA came about because the CLARITY Act did not address developer protection with sufficient depth. Lummis and Wyden expect the text to be amended and incorporated into the broader bill, though at the time of publication the two pieces of legislation had not yet merged.
The Industry Threatens to Walk Away if Protections Are Cut
Speculation about sacrificing the BRCA triggered an immediate reaction. Alexander Grieve, Vice President of Government Affairs at Paradigm ā a crypto infrastructure firm ā warned the sector would walk away from the entire legislative process if developer protection disappears from the final text.
The fear has a specific name behind it: Roman Storm, founder of crypto mixer Tornado Cash. Storm received a conviction for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and federal prosecutors are now pursuing a retrial on more serious money laundering and sanctions evasion charges.
Industry supporters argue that Storm never controlled user funds on the protocol and therefore should not face criminal liability for the actions of third-party users. The BRCA aims to establish that principle as an explicit legal protection, preventing other developers from facing the same outcome.
Lummis’s clarification brought the tension inside the industry down. Even so, uncertainty over whether the BRCA will ultimately merge into the CLARITY Act keeps the debate open among developers, lawmakers, and crypto lobbyists working the halls of Washington.
