Ripple , along with more than 100 crypto companies and tech advocacy groups, has formed a coalition to urge the Senate Banking Committee to include explicit protections for software developers in upcoming market structure legislation or risk opposition.
The group sent a letter with over 114 signatories, including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase (Nasdaq: COIN), DCG, Grayscale, Kraken, Paradigm, Solana Labs, and Uniswap Labs, on Aug. 27, which called for national legal protections for developers and non-custodial service providers.
Crypto firms' stance
The main points put forward by the crypto firms include:
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The coalition warns the U.S. risks losing its edge in blockchain innovation.
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The share of open-source developers in the U.S. has dropped from 25% in 2021to 18% in 2025.
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This decline is largely attributed to ongoing regulatory uncertainty.
The effort is led by the DeFi Education Fund and the Chamber of Progress, a large tech lobbying organization reportedly funded in part by Amazon, Apple, Google, and Uber.
Related: What is blockchain? Explained
"We speak to Congress with one voice: provide robust, nationwide protections for software developers and non-custodial service providers in market structure legislation,"the letter said. "Without such protections, we cannot support a market structure bill."
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According to a recent Decrypt report , a source familiar with the effort stated that the letter was prompted by concerns that some Senate Democrats may attempt to include language that holds developers criminally liable if their code is used for money laundering or evasion of sanctions. The source added that keeping this from happening "is an issue that fully unites the industry."
Senate advised to protect developers
The House-passed CLARITY Act and other laws, such as the Keep Your Coins Act, were praised for protecting decentralized finance and peer-to-peer transactions. However, the groups said that further clarification is needed.
They want clear federal protections that override state laws and ensure that developers can't be wrongly labeled as money transmitters or risk prosecution under laws like 18 U.S. Code 1960.
Still, it advised the Senate to take further action by clearly protecting developers from criminal punishment, stating that this could hinder innovation in the field.
The initiative is one of the most concerted lobbying efforts by crypto and tech groups to date, demonstrating how market structure legislation is becoming a major policy battleground.
This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Aug 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the Policy section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
