In a draft of the Senate integrated version of the “CLARITY Act” announced by Lummis on July 22, 2026, a previously low-profile cybersecurity provision has come to light—proposing to establish a white-hat rewards program through a “digital asset cybersecurity coordination mechanism.” This is not meant to encourage “bounty hunters” who recklessly break into systems; instead, it is the first time that Web2’s mature vulnerability disclosure mechanism (bug bounty) is written into the text of the U.S. federal crypto market structure law.

The provision’s logic is straightforward: security researchers discover vulnerabilities in authorized channels and disclose them responsibly (responsible disclosure) across infrastructure such as exchanges, custodial systems, wallets, smart contracts, cross-chain bridges, clearing and settlement, and private key management. After verification and with sufficient time left for remediation, they can receive rewards, and the legal boundary between “security research” and “malicious intrusion” is clearly defined. The thinking follows former CFTC chair Giancarlo’s advocacy that “market resilience comes from transparent disclosure.” Consumer protection is pushed one step further—from merely “preventing platforms from misappropriating customer assets” to preventing system vulnerabilities that could wipe customer assets overnight.

Why introduce it now? The bankruptcies exposed the trap of “commingling of ledgers” in FTX and Celsius-style cases, while over the past year, thefts from bridges and custodial contracts have often involved hundreds of millions, proving that companies’ voluntary bounty-setting alone is not enough. The draft packages customer-asset segregation, bankruptcy remoteness, prohibition on misappropriation, and white-hat incentives—equivalent to adding a technical front line to “consumer protection.”

However, implementation still has gray areas: whether the bonus pool is determined by CFTC/SEC rules or shared by exchanges, as well as the scope of liability, disclosure standards, and reward tiers have not been clarified. Even the entire bill is still stuck behind the Senate’s 60-vote threshold; if it fails to clear the hurdle before the August recess, the white-hat provision may also be pared back during Senate-floor amendments.

If it ultimately becomes law, the significance goes beyond “making hacking legal money”—it would mark a shift in U.S. crypto regulation from “catching scammers after the fact” to “buying vulnerabilities before they are exploited.” The roles of auditing firms, insurance companies, and compliant custodians will all be re-evaluated.