Crypto Gloss

Jerry Brito

Jerry Brito is the Executive Director and co-founder of Coin Center — the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization that is the most prominent voice for constitutionally consistent cryptocurrency policy in the United States — who has led the organization since its founding in 2014, testifying repeatedly before Congress, filing amicus briefs in landmark crypto legal cases (including Tornado Cash), and arguing that permissionless innovation in cryptocurrency is a First Amendment and Fourth Amendment issue as much as a financial regulation issue.

Background

Jerry Brito has a law degree and worked in tech policy before founding Coin Center. Prior to Coin Center, he was a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he focused on internet policy, technology regulation, and government transparency issues. His background in technology policy and regulation gave him the intellectual framework to approach cryptocurrency regulation as a matter of innovation policy rather than purely financial regulation.

He is Venezuelan-American and has cited personal connection to the monetary dysfunction of Venezuela as part of his motivation for working on cryptocurrency access as a human rights issue in addition to a U.S. policy issue.

Coin Center

Coin Center was co-founded by Brito and Peter Van Valkenburgh in 2014. The organization’s mission is to:

  • Research the policy issues surrounding cryptocurrency and publish analysis for policymakers.
  • Advocate for cryptocurrency policy that protects individual rights and does not impose burdensome or unconstitutional requirements on developers and users.
  • Educate Congress, regulators, and the public on how cryptocurrency technology works.
  • Litigate when necessary to protect constitutional rights related to cryptocurrency.

Unlike industry trade associations that represent corporate interests, Coin Center is explicitly nonprofit and focused on public interest and civil liberties concerns.

Key Policy Positions

Against Indiscriminate Surveillance

Brito has consistently argued against regulatory frameworks that treat all cryptocurrency users as presumptively suspicious. He has opposed:

  • Broad surveillance provisions in proposed crypto legislation.
  • The application of money transmission laws to non-custodial software developers.
  • Blanket requirements for protocol developers to collect Know Your Customer (KYC) data when they do not hold or control customer funds.

Tornado Cash Amicus Brief

When the U.S. Department of Justice and OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 and arrested its developers, Coin Center filed suit challenging the constitutionality of sanctioning open-source software code as distinct from a service company:

  • Coin Center’s lawsuit (filed in Federal court) argued that the OFAC sanctions violated the First Amendment (code is speech) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was Being misapplied.
  • Brito testified and published extensively on Coin Center’s belief that targeting autonomous, immutable smart contracts — as distinct from the people operating services — represented a dangerous precedent for open-source software developers.

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (2021)

The most prominent Coin Center policy battle of 2021 was around the cryptocurrency tax reporting provision (Section 80603) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act:

  • The provision required “brokers” of digital assets to report customer transactions to the IRS.
  • As originally drafted, the broker definition could encompass software developers, miners, and validators who do not hold customer funds.
  • Brito and Coin Center, alongside crypto industry groups, successfully advocated for an amendment (ultimately passed in a watered-down form) attempting to clarify who qualified as a “broker.”

Key Dates

  • 2014 — Co-founds Coin Center with Peter Van Valkenburgh.
  • 2017–2018 — Testifies before Congress multiple times on cryptocurrency regulation during first major institutional awareness cycle.
  • 2021 — Coin Center leads advocacy against overbroad broker definition in Infrastructure bill.
  • August 2022 — OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash; Coin Center files lawsuit challenging constitutionality.
  • 2023 — Coin Center’s Tornado Cash challenge proceeds through federal courts.

Common Misconceptions

  • “Coin Center is a lobbying organization for the crypto industry.” — Coin Center is a nonprofit funded by donations, not by cryptocurrency companies seeking specific regulatory outcomes. It explicitly focuses on broad First Amendment and Fourth Amendment principles rather than corporate interests. Its positions sometimes conflict with what individual crypto companies prefer.
  • “Jerry Brito is pro-crypto-crime.” — Brito and Coin Center are not opposed to law enforcement targeting criminals who use cryptocurrency. Their opposition is specifically to regulatory frameworks that would impose unconstitutional surveillance or criminalize non-custodial software development.

Last updated: 2026-04

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