Buried on page 230 of the CLARITY Act is arguably the biggest win for the digital asset industry in the entire 309-page bill. Section 604: The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. If you build open-source blockchain software and don't have unilateral control over users' funds, you are not a money transmitter. Not under FinCEN rules. Not under federal criminal law. Not under state registration requirements. Writing code ≠ money transmission. Building self-custody tools ≠ money transmission. Running node infrastructure ≠ money transmission. For years, developers have operated under the threat that publishing code could expose them to money transmission charges. Section 604 eliminates that ambiguity entirely. It establishes a clear, codified legal protection for the people who actually build the open-source infrastructure this industry runs on. Senate Banking markup is Thursday. Read the bill.

Replies (12)

Thats great. But does open the door to classifying custodial hosts that do have unilateral control of user funds as money transmitters though? That could apply to things like shared custodial lightning wallets such as LNBits or Cashu mints, etc.
Default avatar
Yogstr 2 weeks ago
Good news. Does it mention exemption tax gains for small transactions?
“maintain a hardware wallet or software wallet for their own lawful custody of digital assets, and engage in direct peer-to-peer digital asset transactions for lawful purposes.”