Solana group urges Congress to shield non-custodial devs

The Solana Policy Institute is pressing Congress to codify legal protections for software builders who do not control customer funds, as the Senate Banking Committee weighs a crypto bill that would state non-custodial developers are not money transmitters. The group released an open letter on Wednesday.

The letter, signed by President Kristin Smith and CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine, called Roman Storm’s case “not an isolated dispute” and framed it as a test for U.S. support of open innovation. “It is a test of whether the United States will continue to support and lead in open innovation — or whether fear and misinterpretation will drive builders out of the system entirely,” the letter stated.

The committee’s draft includes the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which would confirm that non-custodial software developers and independent service providers who do not have control over user assets are not money transmitters. The text would set clear guardrails for when those parties fall outside money transmission laws. Whitehouse-Levine called the inclusion “a major highlight in the bill, and a huge, huge win.”

The institute contends that protecting developers who do not handle customer assets is consistent with established principles around software publication and communication. The letter was addressed to lawmakers as they consider a broader framework for digital assets.

The appeal follows Storm’s August conviction on a money transmitting charge tied to Tornado Cash, a decentralized crypto mixing service that seeks to enhance user privacy. The jury did not reach a verdict on a money laundering count and a sanctions-related charge. Sentencing has not been scheduled.

According to our earlier report, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an open letter supporting Roman Storm, the Tornado Cash co-developer convicted of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and awaiting sentencing that could bring up to five years in prison.

Buterin argued prosecutors are targeting the act of writing code and focusing on software that can be misused rather than proven harm. He said he used Tornado Cash tools to buy equipment and donate to charities without exposing personal data, and described Storm as a developer committed to privacy and long-term project integrity.