Andreessen Warns CLARITY Act Provision Could Wipe Out Crypto Industry

a16z's Marc Andreessen has warned that a proposed provision in the CLARITY Act could be a 'kill shot' to the crypto industry. The provision, which would hold developers accountable for misuse of their code in the future, would make open-source software development 'legally unworkable', Andreessen said.

The bill's developer-liability standard was raised by Carole House, a former White House cybersecurity official, who argued that it could expand beyond crypto into artificial intelligence. Andreessen dismissed this analogy, comparing it to blaming a hotel owner for a guest's crime or an automobile manufacturer for a getaway car used in a robbery.

a16z co-founder Chris Dixon also defended the ethics and stablecoin provisions of the bill, saying they strike a balance between innovation and regulation. The bill does not include the language proposed by House, but instead protects developers who do not hold customer funds from being considered money transmitters and securities-law liabilities related to compiling network transactions or providing computational work for distributed ledgers.