On June 23, 82 Catholic leaders sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asking them to rethink one section of the crypto industry’s biggest bill. The group included nuns and bishops. Their organizer was the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, a faith-based nationwide network, and Punchbowl News reported the letter first.
The bill is the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, H.R. 3633. It would end the turf fight between the SEC and the CFTC by classifying many tokens, Bitcoin and Ethereum among them, as commodities under CFTC oversight. It also sets up registration categories for exchanges and brokers, and a route for some assets to move from security to commodity status depending on how decentralized they are. The House passed it in July 2025, 294 to 134. The Senate Banking Committee cleared it on May 14, 2026, by a much thinner 15 to 9.
The clause in dispute
The letter’s target is Section 604, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA. It limits when developers of decentralized blockchain software can be held liable for what users do with it. The coalition argues that taking non-custodial developers out of the money-transmitter category removes the transaction monitoring and suspicious-activity reporting that anti-money-laundering rules depend on. The BRCA, the letter warned, “may make it more difficult to responsibly monitor illicit financial activity tied to trafficking, organized crime, child exploitation, sanctions evasion, and other forms of abuse.”
The letter’s framing was moral. “The test of any financial system is not simply whether it generates wealth or innovation, but whether it safeguards human life and dignity,” the leaders wrote.
Industry sees the clause differently. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said Section 604 only ensures that non-custodial developers who build software tools are not punished or held to the same burdens as traditional banks. Many crypto leaders have called the BRCA a red line and said they would not back the bill without it. The church wants it gone; the industry will not give it up.
The detail that matters is the context around the argument. Transactions on cryptocurrency networks are transparent by default, and decentralization advocates say privacy tools are needed to give digital money the same privacy as cash. The Trump Justice Department, meanwhile, has sent several developers of such tools to prison over the past year, citing their use in funding crime and laundering money.
A crowded field of opponents
The Catholic leaders are not alone. Law enforcement groups representing prosecutors, sheriffs and police chiefs sent their own letter warning that gaps in the bill could make it harder to trace money tied to trafficking and organized crime. Wall Street wants language limiting stablecoin rewards. Native American tribes want limits on sports-based wagers at prediction markets. Some Democrats insist the bill must restrict the crypto ventures of President Donald Trump and his family.
The calendar is tight. The bill sits on the Senate floor calendar but needs at least seven Democratic votes to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold. Many industry leaders say that if it cannot pass by next month, it is unlikely to become law this year, with the November midterms coming. Polymarket put the odds that Trump signs it before the end of 2026 at 42%.
Markets were already sour. Bitcoin traded around $59,800 after slipping under $60,000 that week, Ethereum near $1,567, XRP around $1.04 and Solana near $65.
Sources
- Why Nearly 100 Catholic Leaders Just Turned Against Crypto's CLARITY Act
- Crypto’s Clarity Act Has a New Enemy: Catholic Leaders
- Nearly 100 Catholic leaders oppose Clarity Act over trafficking concerns
