The CLARITY Bill: Long-Awaited Legal Protection for Code Developers
Senator Cynthia Lummis recently stated that software developers no longer need expensive lawyers to verify the legality of their code. This concerns the new CLARITY bill, designed to once and for all resolve the issue of shifting responsibility onto software product authors.
The Path to a Historic Vote
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act initiative has already passed two key stages. In July 2025, the document was approved by the House of Representatives (294 votes to 134). In May 2026, the project was supported by the Senate Banking Committee (15 votes to 9). The historic document now awaits a final vote by U.S. senators.
When Writing Code Became a Federal Risk
Intense debates about the criminal liability of developers flared up due to the trial of Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, a decentralized protocol for confidential transactions on the Ethereum network.
In August 2025, a jury found the programmer guilty of conspiracy to conduct unlicensed money transmission. However, on more serious charges, including money laundering, the panel of judges was unable to reach a unanimous verdict. As a result, the maximum prison sentence for the current charge could be five years.
The prosecution is based on a complex legal conflict. The Tornado Cash service operates autonomously and breaks the data chain between counterparties. After the publication of the source code, the authors physically did not control other people's digital assets.
Storm's defense insisted that a developer cannot be held responsible for how users handle open-source code that executes independently. The question was: can an author be criminally liable for how others use the software they develop for privacy? After the verdict, there is still no answer to this question.
The Tornado Cash situation is not an isolated case. In 2024, the SEC sent an official warning to the Uniswap Labs platform, accusing the developers of the world's largest decentralized exchange protocol of operating as an unregistered broker-dealer. The CFTC filed a separate case against the developers of Ooki DAO, arguing that participating in protocol governance through open voting entails personal liability for the actions of end users.
What the CLARITY Act Changes for Developers
The CLARITY bill directly addresses this issue in Section 604. This provision is based on the principles of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and past FinCEN guidance. According to the document, software creators and infrastructure operators are exempt from the status of payment intermediaries if they do not directly manage client finances.
Here are the specific activities that will no longer fall under the strict requirements of the Bank Secrecy Act:
- Writing and publishing open-source software code.
- Launching and maintaining network nodes.
- Validating blockchain transactions within decentralized systems.
In June, leaders of major technology companies sent a joint letter to the Senate. The document was signed by more than 60 top executives, including representatives from Coinbase, Uniswap, Kraken, a16z crypto, and Paradigm. Investors and entrepreneurs urged lawmakers to approve the bill as quickly as possible to protect technological progress.
Expert opinion. The adoption of CLARITY will be a turning point for the entire crypto industry. It will not only remove the legal burden from developers but also create a precedent: writing code is not a financial activity, but an exercise of the right to freedom of expression. Without such a law, the U.S. risks losing technological leadership, as innovation will migrate to jurisdictions with clearer and more predictable rules.