[Coin Center: Code Has 'Functional Speech' Attributes and Should Be Protected Under the First Amendment] According to Cointelegraph, Coin Center has released a report stating that software code constitutes 'functional' speech and should be protected under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The report's authors, Coin Center Executive Director Peter Van Valkenburgh and Research Director Lizandro Pieper, argue that writing and publishing encryption software code is no different from writing a book or publishing a recipe. The First Amendment provides strong constitutional protections for developers who merely publish and maintain software. Regulatory oversight only applies when developers control user assets, execute transactions for users, or make decisions on behalf of users. The report cites the 1985 Lowe v. SEC case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that publishers who do not hold assets or act on behalf of clients are protected by freedom of speech and are not considered to be engaged in regulated professions.