[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 528 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 528

 To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain 
   non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain 
                               services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 14, 2019

  Mr. Emmer (for himself and Mr. Soto) introduced the following bill; 
   which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 
    addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain 
   non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain 
                               services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Blockchain Regulatory Certainty 
Act''.

SEC. 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, section 1960 of title 18, United States Code, and 
section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of Federal Regulations), money 
services business (as defined under section 1010.100 of title 31, Code 
of Federal Regulation), 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 currency 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) Criminal law.--Nothing in this section shall be 
        construed to impair the enforcement of any Federal criminal 
        statute that is consistent with this section.
            (2) Intellectual property law.--Nothing in this section 
        shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to 
        intellectual property.
            (3) 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 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 includes, specifically, a public 
        network of computers that cooperates to reach consensus over 
        the state of a distributed ledger describing transactions in a 
        digital currency.
            (2) 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.
            (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 
        currencies 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 currency.
            (5) Digital currency.--The term ``digital currency'' means 
        a medium of exchange, a unit of account, or a store of value 
        that is represented by entries in a distributed ledger 
        generated by a blockchain network.
                                 <all>