
金色财经|5月 14, 2026 16:00
Senator Lummis: No need to add DeFi add ons to CLARITY Act
According to Golden Finance, on May 14th, US Senators Van Hollen and Cynthia Lummis spoke on the amendment to increase DeFi money laundering risks and accountability during the review of the CLARITY Act.
Senator Van Hollen supports the amendment, stating that we are all aware that criminals use tools such as Tumblers and Mixers to launder money, evade law enforcement, and transfer funds. There are records showing that Iranian personnel used cryptocurrency mixing services and related technologies to transfer funds and evade sanctions. In some cases, it is evident that the developers of these DeFi tools were motivated from the outset to profit from illegal activities. They know that criminals will use these tools - in fact, for some of them, this is their entire purpose in developing these tools. Therefore, we must hold them accountable. Resolving the overall illegal financial risks of DeFi is not simple, but this amendment is direct, limited, and straightforward. It only does one thing: it explicitly states that if the purpose of publishing DeFi protocols is to facilitate money laundering, evade sanctions, or finance terrorism, then it is illegal. That's it. If you intentionally provide convenience for drug traffickers, fraudsters, North Korea, or Iran, you should bear the consequences.
Senator Cynthia Lummis spoke against the amendment, stating that according to Section 1956 and 1957 of Title 18 of the United States Code and related sanction laws, if someone builds or uses software to launder criminal proceeds or evade sanctions, prosecutors can already prosecute them based on these regulations and there is no need to add a "DeFi add-on" to the bill. I only care about one thing: how to handle specific behaviors, but I cannot send a signal that the software is not popular. We hope to embed digital assets into the existing legal framework in the United States, rather than starting anew. Therefore, I oppose this amendment.
The amendment was rejected with 11 votes in favor and 13 votes against. The Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act (also known as the CLARITY Act) is currently undergoing a vote to debate and vote on amendments clause by clause.