N.H. Rev. Stat. § 301-B:5 — NH Code / Title XXVII / Chapter 301-B / Section 5
301-B:5 Definitions.
Status: in_force

I. "Administrator" means a person, irrespective of title, that is appointed in a manner specified in the bylaws to make discretionary decisions, either individually or collectively, with other administrators, on behalf of the New Hampshire DAO with regard to specific, predefined operations of the New Hampshire DAO. II. "Asset" includes both on-chain assets and off-chain assets. III. "Blockchain" means any technology: (a) Where data is: (1) shared across a network to create a public ledger of verified transactions or information among network participants; (2) linked using cryptography to maintain the integrity of the public ledger and to execute other functions; and (3) distributed among network participants in an automated fashion to concurrently update network participants on the state of the public ledger and any other functions; and (b) Composed of source code that is publicly available. IV. "Blockchain protocol" means any executable software deployed to a blockchain composed of source code that is publicly available and accessible, including a smart contract or any network of smart contracts. V. "Blockchain system" means any blockchain or blockchain protocol. VI. "Bylaws" means the rules and regulations that govern the methods, mechanisms and procedures followed by a DAO and by which developers, participants and administrators interact and make decisions. VII. "Contentious fork" means a hard fork that results in 2 divergent and potentially competing blockchains. VIII. "Decentralized autonomous organization" or "DAO" means an enterprise defined in accordance with a smart contract or network of smart contracts deployed on a permissionless blockchain that implements a coordinated project or undertaking among participants. IX. "Decentralized network" means a blockchain system in which all of the following conditions are met: (a) During the previous 12-month period, no person, excluding the subject DAO itself: (1) Had the unilateral authority, directly or indirectly, through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship, or otherwise, to control or materially alter the functionality or operation of the blockchain system; or (2) Had the unilateral authority to restrict or prohibit any person from: (A) Using, earning, or transmitting a related digital asset; (B) Deploying software that uses or integrates with the blockchain system; (C) Participating in a decentralized governance system with respect to the blockchain system; or (D) Operating a node, validator, or other form of computational infrastructure with respect to the blockchain system. (b) During the previous 12-month period: (1) No person, excluding the subject DAO itself, directly or indirectly beneficially owned, in the aggregate, 20 percent or more of the total amount of units of a related digital asset that: (A) Can be created, issued, or distributed in such blockchain system; and (B) Were freely transferrable or otherwise used or available to be used for the purposes of such blockchain network; or (2) No digital asset issuer or affiliated person had the unilateral authority to direct the voting, in the aggregate, of 20 percent or more of the outstanding voting power of such digital asset or related decentralized governance system. (c) During the previous 3-month period, the digital asset issuer, any affiliated person, or any related person has not implemented or contributed any intellectual property to the source code of the blockchain system that materially alters the functionality or operation of the blockchain system, unless such implementation or contribution to the source code: (1) Addressed vulnerabilities, errors, regular maintenance, cybersecurity risks, or other technical improvements to the blockchain system; or (2) Were adopted through the consensus or agreement of a decentralized governance system. X. "Decentralized governance system" means, with respect to a blockchain system, any rules-based system permitting persons using the blockchain system or the digital assets related to such blockchain system to form consensus or reach agreement in the development, provision, publication, management, or administration of such blockchain system. The term 'decentralized governance system' does not include a system in which a person or group of persons under common control have the ability to (a) unilaterally alter the rules of consensus or agreement for the blockchain system; or (b) determine the final outcome of decisions related to the development, provision, publication, management, or administration of such blockchain system. XI. "Developer" means a person involved in the development or maintenance of the DAO or the blockchain protocol, whether through the contribution of software code, design, business, legal, or ancillary support. XII. "Digital asset" means any fungible or non-fungible digital representation of value, unit of value, voting, or usage right that can be exclusively possessed and transferred, person to person, without necessary reliance on an intermediary, and is recorded on a blockchain system. XIII. "Dispute resolution mechanism" means an on-chain alternative dispute resolution system, such as arbitration, expert determination, or an on-chain alternative court system, which enables anyone to resolve their disputes, controversies or claims with, arising out of, or in connection with, a New Hampshire DAO. Any such award, decision, or judgment shall be accorded the same status and treatment as an international arbitral award. XIV. "Failure event" means a DAO encountering a technical bug or exploit which renders the DAO non-operational or fundamentally changes the expected operation of the DAO. XVI. "GUI" means a graphical user interface, publicly accessible by all DAO participants, whether hosted centrally via location-based storage or via decentralized or distributed storage, through which users interact with computer software via visual indicator representations. This can include, but is not limited to, a web interface or standalone application. XVII. "Hard fork" means a blockchain software upgrade that is not compatible with previous versions of the blockchain software, and therefore requires all users to upgrade. XVIII. "Jurisdiction" means a territory that is under a defined legal authority. XIX. "Legal representative" means a person who is appointed and authorized by a New Hampshire DAO in a manner specified in the bylaws to perform functions, activities and operations on behalf of the New Hampshire DAO in off-chain interactions and as may be required under this act. XX. "Majority chain" means the version of the chain accepted by more than 50 percent of the blockchain's validators following a hard fork. XXI. "Meeting" means a synchronous or asynchronous event for the purpose of discussing and acting upon DAO-related matters by participants or administrators. XXII. "Minority chain" means the version of the chain that is not the majority chain following a hard fork. XXIII. "New Hampshire DAO" means a decentralized autonomous organization that is listed on the New Hampshire DAO registry. XXIV. "New Hampshire DAO registry" means the registry established and administered in accordance with RSA 301-B:14. XXV. "Off-chain" means any action or transaction that is not on-chain. XXVI. "On-chain" means any action or transaction that is recorded and verified on a blockchain according to a blockchain protocol's consensus mechanism. XXVII. "On-chain contribution" refers to any token segregated and locked in one of the DAO's smart contracts for the purpose of participant buy-in to the DAO and the provision of withdrawable capital. XXVIII. "Open-source format" means software that is within the open-source definition as established and maintained by the Open Source Initiative. XXIX. "Participant" means, unless the bylaws provide otherwise, any person who is entitled under the bylaws to exercise governance rights in a DAO. XXX. "Permissionless blockchain" means a blockchain system that allows any person to transact and produce blocks in accordance with the blockchain protocol, whereby the validity of the block is not determined by the identity of the producer. XXXI. "Person" means a natural person, partnership, limited liability company, trust, business trust, estate, association, joint venture, corporation, custodian, nominee, or any other individual or entity in its own or any representative capacity, including a DAO that is subject to this act. XXXII. "Proposal" means a suggestion for actions to be taken by the DAO, to be decided on in accordance with the bylaws of the DAO. XXXIII. "Public address" means a unique, durable identifier that person(s) can transact with on a permissionless blockchain. XXXIV. "Public forum" means a freely accessible online environment that is commonly used for the exercise of speech and public debate. XXXV. "Public signaling" means a declaration authorized by way of proposal by the DAO in a public forum. XXXVI. "Quality assurance testing" means that the software code of the DAO has undergone security review according to industry standards including standards that may be designed, developed, and tested by the registry administrator. XXXVII. "Registry administrator" means the person, including the university of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory, or any other entity authorized by the secretary of state in accordance with this act to administer the New Hampshire DAO registry. XXXVIII. "Registered Agent" means the person appointed by a New Hampshire DAO in accordance with RSA 301-B:9. XXXIX. "Registered e-mail address" means with respect to any person a unique designation for an electronic mailbox that sends and receives electronic messages or e-mails. XL. "Related digital asset" means a digital asset that is intrinsically linked to a blockchain system, including: (a) where the digital asset's value is reasonably expected to be generated by the programmatic functioning of the blockchain system; (b) where the digital asset represents voting rights with respect to the blockchain system; or (c) where the digital asset is issued through the programmatic functioning of the blockchain system. XLI. "Smart contract" is software code deployed in a blockchain system that consists of a set of predefined and deterministic instructions and conditions that may be executed in a decentralized manner by the participants in the underlying blockchain network. Execution of a smart contract shall produce a change in the blockchain state. XLII. "Token" means a record on a permissionless blockchain, typically representing an asset, participation right, or other entitlement. XLIII. "Transaction" means a new entry in a permissionless blockchain, often but not exclusively, recording a change in ownership of an asset or participation in a DAO.