118 HR 1747 RH: Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act U.S. House of Representatives 2024-05-06 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
IBUnion Calendar No. 403118th CONGRESS2d SessionH. R. 1747[Report No. 118–486]IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESMarch 23, 2023Mr. Emmer (for himself and Mr. Soto) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial ServicesMay 6, 2024Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printedStrike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italicFor text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 23, 2023A BILLTo provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.
2.
Safe harbor for non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services
(a)
Protection for non-Controlling blockchain services and software developers
No blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain service shall be treated as a money transmitter (as defined under State licensing laws), a financial institution (as defined under section 5312 of title 31, United States Code), or any other State or Federal legal designation requiring licensing or registration as a condition to acting as a blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain service, unless the developer or provider has, in the regular course of business, control over digital assets to which a user is entitled under the blockchain service or the software created, maintained, or disseminated by the blockchain developer.(b)
Effect on other laws
(1)
Intellectual property law
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property.(2)
State law
Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any State from enforcing any State law that is consistent with this section. No cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section.(c)
Definitions
As used in this section:(1)
Blockchain developer
The term blockchain developer means any person or business that creates, maintains, or disseminates software facilitating the creation or maintenance of a blockchain network or a blockchain service.(2)
Blockchain network
The term blockchain network means any system of networked computers that cooperates to reach consensus over the state of a computer program and allows users to participate in the consensus-making process without the need to license proprietary software or obtain permission from any other user. The term blockchain network includes, specifically, a public network of computers that cooperates to reach consensus over the state of a distributed ledger describing transactions in a digital asset.(3)
Blockchain service
The term blockchain service means any information, transaction, or computing service or system that provides or enables access to a blockchain network by multiple users, including specifically a service or system that enables users to send, receive, exchange, or store digital assets described by blockchain networks.(4)
Control
The term control means the legal right, authority, or ability to obtain upon demand data sufficient to initiate transactions spending an amount of digital assets.(5)
Digital asset
The term digital asset means any form of intangible personal property that can be exclusively possessed and transferred person to person without necessary reliance on an intermediary.
May 6, 2024Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed