Sponsors
11 Republican
Scott FitzgeraldWI-5
This legislation amends the federal criminal statute governing unlicensed money transmitting businesses to require that an entity must actually exercise control over funds to face prosecution. By narrowing the definition of money transmission to custodial activities, the bill exempts non-custodial blockchain developers, self-custody wallet providers, node operators, and decentralized finance protocols from criminal liability for unlicensed money transmission, protecting fundamental software innovation.
This bill addresses a critical legal threat facing the cryptocurrency industry by amending 18 U.S.C. Section 1960. Historically, regulatory overreach has threatened non-custodial developers, smart contract creators, and peer-to-peer software builders with prosecution for operating unlicensed money transmitting businesses, even when they never hold user funds. By inserting language requiring that a party must exercise control over currency or assets to be liable, this legislation creates a bright-line rule distinguishing custodial financial services from non-custodial software development. This change protects self-custody wallet developers, decentralized protocols, validators, and miners from criminal liability. By defending the right to publish open-source code and maintain self-custody, the bill removes a major source of regulatory risk and encourages domestic blockchain development, making it highly supportive of the crypto ecosystem.
Every member who has sponsored, cosponsored or voted on this bill. Pick a vote to see how each member voted on it, or narrow by party, name or state.
1 Republican
8 Republicans · 5 Democrats
