Tom Emmer introduces legislation to provide protection for blockchain developers

Tom Emmer reintroduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) on May 21, co-led by Congressman Ritchie Torres, following its first introduction in 2023. The bill aims to provide clarity and legal protection for blockchain developers and service providers, ensuring they are not misclassified as money transmitters if they don’t handle user funds. 

Emmer said that the longer Congress delays the clarification, the greater the risk that the digital asset technology is pushed overseas, which will harm American investors and innovators. He believes that the bill provides clarification that will help the U.S. remain a leader in the crypto space.

Emmer reintroduces bill to bring regulatory clarity to digital assets

Today, @RepRitchie and I introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act to protect blockchain developers and service providers that never custody consumer funds from unjust government prosecution. pic.twitter.com/nCbpHcpf1Y

— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) May 21, 2025

Tom Emmer acknowledged that the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act reflects a thoughtful, bipartisan effort to get crypto policy right. He also revealed that they took feedback seriously from the last Congress, after a similar language was voted down, and returned with a smarter, sharper framework that protects innovation without compromising oversight.

The American politician argued that the U.S. should be the global home for responsible innovation, not a place where developers are punished for building open-source software or experimenting with new technologies. 

“If we want to keep the next generation of builders in the United States, this kind of legal clarity is essential. We cannot afford to let outdated or misapplied regulations drive American talent and technology overseas. With this bill, we protect innovation, uphold civil liberties, and strengthen our global competitiveness in the 21st-century economy.”

–Tom Emmer, Majority Whip in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Peter Van Valkenburgh, executive director of Coin Center, believes that the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act is the best way to protect American crypto developers and innovators from undue regulation by prosecution. He also noted that recent misapplication of licensing laws has chilled the development of privacy and freedom-enhancing tech in the U.S. Valkenburgh acknowledged that avoiding surprise prosecutions, creating legal clarity, and encouraging free speech and software development are not partisan issues but are core American values, which BRCA codifies.

BRCA bill aims to protect digital asset developers

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund, said that the bill would protect developers of non-custodial, peer-to-peer software protocols from being unreasonably defined as operators of an unlicensed money service business under the Bank Secrecy Act. She also believes BRCA is an important step in the right direction for the development of digital assets in the U.S. and would deliver much-needed clarity to the builders of the financial future.

Blockchain Association Interim CEO and head of policy, Sarah Milby, said the company is proud to support the reintroduction of the bipartisan Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. She mentioned that the bill affirms that innovators building and maintaining decentralized, non-custodial blockchain protocols should not be unfairly treated as financial intermediaries.

Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, argued that blockchain developers, miners, and validators aren’t financial institutions but they’re builders. He believes that the bill will finally give them the freedom to build in the U.S. by clarifying that those who never hold customer assets don’t need bank-style licenses. He also urged swift passage and commended Majority Whip Emmer and Representative Ritchie Torres for championing the BRCA bill.

Kristin Smith and Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the Solana Policy Institute said they’re proud to support the reintroduction of the bill since it provides the legal certainty blockchain developers and entrepreneurs need to build decentralized networks and the next generation of financial infrastructure in the U.S.

Ji Hun Kim, president, and CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said that the reintroduction of the bill will help ensure that non-custodial blockchain participants are not subject to unnecessary and technologically infeasible compliance burdens that would impede American innovation. Kim believes that the development of digital assets in the U.S. is critical to the U.S.’s national and economic security.

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