Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act

I 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 deter- mined 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 pro- viders of blockchain services. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Blockchain Regulatory 4 Certainty Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H528.IH H528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 528 IH SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR NON-CONTROLLING BLOCK- 1 CHAIN DEVELOPERS AND PROVIDERS OF 2 BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES. 3 (a) PROTECTION FOR NON-CONTROLLING 4 BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS.— 5 No blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain 6 service shall be treated as a money transmitter (as defined 7 under State licensing laws, section 1960 of title 18, United 8 States Code, and section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of 9 Federal Regulations), money services business (as defined 10 under section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of Federal Regu- 11 lation), financial institution (as defined under section 12 5312 of title 31, United States Code), or any other State 13 or Federal legal designation requiring licensing or reg- 14 istration as a condition to acting as a blockchain developer 15 or provider of a blockchain service, unless the developer 16 or provider has, in the regular course of business, control 17 over digital currency to which a user is entitled under the 18 blockchain service or the software created, maintained, or 19 disseminated by the blockchain developer. 20 (b) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 21 (1) CRIMINAL LAW.—Nothing in this section 22 shall be construed to impair the enforcement of any 23 Federal criminal statute that is consistent with this 24 section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H528.IH H528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 528 IH (2) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW.—Nothing 1 in this section shall be construed to limit or expand 2 any law pertaining to intellectual property. 3 (3) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this section shall 4 be construed to prevent any State from enforcing 5 any State law that is consistent with this section. No 6 cause of action may be brought and no liability may 7 be imposed under any State or local law that is in- 8 consistent with this section. 9 (c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 10 (1) BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK.—The term ‘‘block- 11 chain network’’ means any system of networked 12 computers that cooperates to reach consensus over 13 the state of a computer program and allows users to 14 participate in the consensus-making process without 15 the need to license proprietary software or obtain 16 permission from any other user. The term includes, 17 specifically, a public network of computers that co- 18 operates to reach consensus over the state of a dis- 19 tributed ledger describing transactions in a digital 20 currency. 21 (2) BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPER.—The term 22 ‘‘blockchain developer’’ means any person or busi- 23 ness that creates, maintains, or disseminates soft- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H528.IH H528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 528 IH ware facilitating the creation or maintenance of a 1 blockchain network or a blockchain service. 2 (3) BLOCKCHAIN SERVICE.—The term ‘‘block- 3 chain service’’ means any information, transaction, 4 or computing service or system that provides or en- 5 ables access to a blockchain network by multiple 6 users, including specifically a service or system that 7 enables users to send, receive, exchange, or store 8 digital currencies described by blockchain networks. 9 (4) CONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means the 10 legal right, authority, or ability to obtain upon de- 11 mand data sufficient to initiate transactions spend- 12 ing an amount of digital currency. 13 (5) DIGITAL CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘digital 14 currency’’ means a medium of exchange, a unit of 15 account, or a store of value that is represented by 16 entries in a distributed ledger generated by a 17 blockchain network. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H528.IH H528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS