US lawmakers introduce new bill to protect crypto developers from criminal misuse.

PANews reported on February 26th that, according to a post by crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, US Representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Ben Cline, and Zoe Lofgren have jointly introduced a bipartisan "Blockchain Innovation Promotion Act of 2026," aimed at protecting software developers from the misuse of Section 1960 of the United States Code. The bill clarifies that Section 1960 applies only to entities that control customer funds, not just developers who write code. This distinction is precisely what the crypto industry (especially the DeFi sector) has been pushing for to be included in the Clarity Act. Section 1960 originally targeted custodial fund transfer institutions, but recent cases (such as Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet) have applied it to non-custodial software developers who do not control user funds, becoming a major point of contention between crypto builders and regulators.