As discussions surrounding the CLARITY Act—often referred to as the crypto market structure bill—continue in Washington, Kristin Smith, President of the Solana Policy Institute, has provided insights on the current status of the legislation and the organization’s top priorities.
Solana Policy Institute’s Optimism For CLARITY Act
One of the main priorities disclosed by Smith in a recent post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) is the importance of protecting open-source developers in the legislative landscape.
Smith pointed out that the recent delay in the markup of the market structure bill last week after Coinbase’s withdrawal should be seen as a temporary setback. “Despite the delay, industry engagement remains robust, and there is clear bipartisan support to achieve durable regulatory clarity for market structure,” she noted.
The Senate Agriculture Committee is making advancements with its own draft of the legislation expected to be released on Wednesday, as earlier reported.
Smith also highlighted a shared objective: to create a framework that protects consumers, fosters innovation, and provides certainty for developers operating in the United States. A central tenet of this goal is the safeguarding of developers, which Smith argued is crucial for the success of the industry.
Smith Advocates For Developer Protections
The Solana Institute was founded to ensure that policymakers gain a comprehensive understanding of public blockchains and the protocols that underpin them.
Smith articulated the critical role that open-source software plays within the crypto ecosystem, noting that developers around the world collaborate to produce software that anyone can inspect, use, or improve. “Openness is a strength—not a liability,” she asserted.
However, she raised concerns regarding the case against Roman Storm of Tornado Cash, indicating that it treats open-source innovation as something questionable. Smith warned that penalizing developers merely for writing and publishing open-source code endangers all those involved in such collaborative efforts.
She emphasized the “chilling effect” that the prosecution could have on open-source developers, asserting that writing code is an expressive act protected by the First Amendment.
Smith called for clear policy that differentiates between bad actors and developers working on lawful, general-purpose tools. To bolster this cause, she encouraged supporters to draft letters expressing their stance in favor of open-source protections.
Roman Storm responded to Smith’s support, thanking her and the broader community for advocating for open-source principles. He remarked, “Criminalizing the act of writing and publishing code threatens not just one developer, but the foundations of digital security, privacy, and innovation.”
At the time of writing, Solana’s native token, SOL, was trading at $130.33, mirroring the performance of the broader crypto market, dropping 11% in the weekly time frame.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
