$SOL Solana Institute CEO Kristin Smith has urged the U.S. Senate to preserve developer protections in the CLARITY Act as more than 200 crypto firms and organizations push for the bill to advance before August.
Commenting on the legislation’s progress, Smith said in a June 9 thread on X that the bill has a realistic chance of advancing through the Senate, making it important for lawmakers to preserve protections for open-source developers and blockchain infrastructure providers.
Citing an industry-backed letter, Smith said more than 60 crypto founders and executives, including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, urged senators to maintain strong protections for software developers within the bill.
She argued that open-source developers, validators, and non-custodial wallet providers do not take custody of user assets or execute transactions on behalf of customers and therefore should not face the same regulatory treatment as brokers or custodians.
Her remarks come as support for the CLARITY Act grows across the digital asset industry.
According to crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto, more than 200 crypto companies and organizations recently sent a separate letter to the Senate urging lawmakers to bring the legislation to a floor vote without delay. The coalition said the bill had already undergone months of bipartisan negotiations and should now proceed to formal debate.$BTC
