Charles Grassley and Richard Durbin wrote on Wednesday to Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, urging removal of developer protections from the Senate’s crypto market structure bill. They said the language would weaken unlicensed money-transmitting laws and hamper enforcement, as stated and later reported.
The pair noted the Senate Judiciary Committee oversees criminal laws and the Justice Department. They said the committee “was not consulted or given the opportunity to meaningfully review the proposed changes in advance.”
The draft bill released Jan. 12 includes parts of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA). BRCA would clarify that creating crypto software and maintaining networks is exempt from federal and state money-transmission laws.
Grassley and Durbin warned the bill could harm prosecutions. They wrote it would “create a significant enforcement gap for decentralized digital asset platforms.”
They added that “Such a gap risks attracting illicit actors — like cartels and other sophisticated criminal organizations — to decentralized platforms.” The Banking and Agriculture committees have delayed markups to seek more bipartisan backing, and the bill would likely need 60 votes to pass the full Senate. Major crypto lobbyist Coinbase withdrew support Wednesday over multiple provisions but said negotiations with lawmakers are ongoing.
