Crypto just launched a PAC to protect coders from the CLARITY Act fight.

A new political action committee focused entirely on one legislative provision has entered the crypto policy arena. Defend Developers (@defenddevspac), founded by @glzavatone, the policy lead at @fund_defi, is directing political money at a single objective: ensuring that developers who write decentralised software cannot be held liable for how others use it, and cannot be classified as money transmitters when they hold no user funds.

What the PAC Is Fighting For

The target provision is rooted in the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), embedded in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025. Under the bill, a non-controlling blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain service would not be treated as a money transmitter solely on the basis of creating or publishing software, providing hardware or software for self-custody, or supporting blockchain infrastructure. The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a 294 to 134 vote, making it the most bipartisan crypto legislation in American history.

Defend Developers, federally registered last month, is structured as a hybrid PAC, meaning it can make direct contributions to candidates within FEC limits as well as channel unlimited corporate contributions into independent advertising. The group plans to support only incumbent members of Congress, arguing that donor dollars carry the greatest impact when directed at lawmakers already shaping policy, with an aim to raise and deploy more than six figures across dozens of congressional races during the midterms.

A Contested Provision in a Live Fight

The developer protection language has become the sharpest fault line as the CLARITY Act moves through the Senate. The bill's developer protections have already drawn formal pushback from the Senate Judiciary Committee, with Chairman Chuck Grassley and Senator Dick Durbin sending a joint letter to Senate Banking leaders in January objecting to the BRCA's inclusion, arguing the provision modifies Title 18 of the U.S. criminal code.

Law enforcement groups have warned that such protections could complicate efforts to prosecute bad actors. The crypto industry counters that writing open-source code is categorically different from running a financial intermediary. Anyone who intentionally facilitates the transfer of illicit funds remains subject to prosecution under existing criminal law, and money-transmitter classification was designed for custodial intermediaries that hold and transmit customer funds, not for developers who write code.

White House digital-assets adviser Patrick Witt described Section 1960 in early May as the "final hurdle" for the CLARITY Act, predicting the issue would be resolved "very soon," and arguing the developer protections are essential to bringing builders back onshore, noting that only about 19% of crypto developers are currently based in the United States.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott managed a last-moment maneuver to win a bipartisan vote on the CLARITY Act, with the committee advancing the bill in a 15-9 vote, sending it to the next stage. How the developer protection language survives floor amendments will now be one of the most closely watched questions in Washington's crypto debate.

Sources:
CoinDesk: New DeFi Entrant Widens Field of Crypto Political Campaign Funds
The Crypto Times: CLARITY Act Shields Crypto Developers, But One Criminal Line Could Gut It
DeFi Education Fund: Coalition Letter on Developer Protections in Market Structure