I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2154 

To authorize additional appropriations to the Federal Trade Commission 

to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to digital tokens 

and transactions relating to digital tokens, and to require a report 

to Congress on the Commission’s actions related to digital tokens. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2019 

Mr. SOTO (for himself and Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize additional appropriations to the Federal Trade 

Commission to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to digital tokens and transactions relating 

to digital tokens, and to require a report to Congress 

on the Commission’s actions related to digital tokens. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Taxonomy Act 

5 of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO PREVENT 

2 UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES 

3 RELATING TO DIGITAL TOKENS. 

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Federal 

5 Trade Commission $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

6 2020 through 2024 to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or 

7 practices in transactions relating to digital tokens pursu8 ant to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 

9 U.S.C. 45). 

10 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DIGITAL TOKENS. 

11 As used in this Act— 

12 (1) the term ‘‘digital token’’ means a digital 

13 unit— 

14 (A) that is programmed with rules that 

15 govern its creation, supply, ownership, use, and 

16 transfer, where such rules are designed to resist 

17 modification or tampering by any single person 

18 or persons under common control; 

19 (B) that has a transaction history that— 

20 (i) is recorded in a distributed, digital 

21 ledger or digital data structure in which 

22 consensus is achieved through a mathe23 matically verifiable process; and 

24 (ii) after consensus is reached, is de25 signed to resist modification or tampering 


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1 by any single person or persons under 

2 common control; 

3 (C) that is capable of being transferred be4 tween persons in a decentralized fashion with5 out an intermediate custodian; and 

6 (D) that is not a representation of a finan7 cial interest in a company or partnership, in8 cluding an ownership or debt interest or rev9 enue share; and 

10 (2) the term ‘‘digital unit’’— 

11 (A) means a representation of economic, 

12 proprietary, or access rights that is stored in a 

13 computer-readable format; and 

14 (B) does not include a store of value. 

15 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

16 Beginning one year after the date of enactment of 

17 this Act and each year thereafter, the Federal Trade Com18 mission shall transmit a report to the Committee on En19 ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 

20 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

21 of the Senate of— 

22 (1) any actions taken by the Commission relat23 ing to unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trans24 actions relating to digital tokens; 


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1 (2) the Commission’s plan to prevent unfair or 

2 deceptive acts or practices relating to digital tokens; 

3 and 

4 (3) any recommendations by the Commission 

5 for legislation that would to improve the ability of 

6 the Commission and other relevant Federal agen7 cies— 

8 (A) to further protect consumers from un9 fair or deceptive acts or practices in the digital 

10 token marketplace; and 

11 (B) to promote the competitiveness of the 

12 United States and promote innovation of busi13 nesses in the global digital token sector. 

14 SEC. 5. PRESERVATION OF AUTHORITY. 

15 Nothing in this Act shall supersede the authority of 

16 the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nor prevent 

17 the treatment of digital tokens as commodities subject to 

18 the Commodity Exchange Act (7 U.S.C. 1a et seq.). 

Æ 


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