Over 110 cryptocurrency organizations, including Coinbase, Ripple, a16z crypto, and the Uniswap Foundation, have urged the U.S. Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees to protect software developers and non-custodial service providers in future digital asset legislation, according to a formal letter coordinated by the DeFi Education Fund.
The coalition warns that without explicit protections, blockchain developers could face inappropriate regulatory burdens designed for traditional financial intermediaries who custody customer assets.
Developer Brain Drain Cited as Key Concern
The letter highlights declining U.S. leadership in blockchain development, citing data showing American open-source blockchain developers dropped from 25% of the global total in 2021 to 18% in 2025 due to regulatory uncertainty.
“Market structure legislation should not treat blockchain technology as having any inherent characteristics,” the coalition stated, pointing out that those that construct or operate decentralized networks shouldn’t bear the same regulatory burdens as custodians of customer assets.
Legislative Protections and Federal Preemption Sought
The organizations praised existing provisions in proposed legislation, including the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and the Keep Your Coins Act, which protect peer-to-peer transactions and self-custody rights.
However, they called for federal preemption to prevent a “patchwork of 50 state laws” that could hamper innovation and create compliance complexity for developers operating across jurisdictions.
Bipartisan Support for Developer Protections
The letter emphasized bipartisan Congressional support for protecting blockchain developers, citing House backing for the CLARITY Act as evidence of cross-party consensus on the issue.
The coalition urged senators to strengthen developer protections in upcoming legislation to maintain U.S. competitiveness in blockchain technology development.
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