Crypto groups back lawsuit against DOJ crackdown on open-source code
A coalition of major crypto groups is urging a federal court to reject the DOJ’s effort to apply money transmission laws to open-source software.
A coalition of crypto advocacy groups threw its weight behind a federal lawsuit challenging US Department of Justice (DOJ) efforts to prosecute open-source software developers under money transmission laws.
Crypto investment firm Paradigm, the DeFi Education Fund, Blockchain Association, Crypto Council for Innovation and others filed an amicus brief on Monday in support of Michael Lewellen, a developer who built a non-custodial DeFi protocol and plans to release it publicly.
The groups argue that the DOJ is misusing Section 1960 of title 18 of the US Code, a statute originally intended to regulate unlicensed money transmitters, by extending it to developers of decentralized software.