Over a hundred crypto companies have signed a joint letter requesting the inclusion of DeFi protection provisions in the cryptocurrency market structure bill.

BlockBeats News, August 27th, according to cryptocurrency journalist Eleanor Terrett, over 110 cryptocurrency companies, investors, and advocacy groups have signed a joint letter warning the leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking and Agriculture Committee that they will not be able to support the market structure legislation unless it explicitly protects open-source software developers and non-custodial service providers. With the support of heavyweight firms like Coinbase, a16z crypto, Ripple, top projects, investment firms, and state blockchain committees, the DeFi Education Fund cautioned that labeling developers who release code or enable non-custodial blockchain access as financial intermediaries could hinder U.S. blockchain innovation.

The alliance pointed out that according to a recent White House report on digital assets, the percentage of U.S. open-source software developers has significantly decreased from 25% in 2021 to 18% in 2025. While the alliance praised the House and Senate for including some developer protection measures and the right to self-custody of digital assets in the current market structure draft, they believe it is not enough and are now calling for clear federal rules to protect DeFi developers, ensure national regulatory consistency, and uphold U.S. open-source innovation.