II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4109 

To authorize the development of a national strategy for the research and 

development of distributed ledger technologies and their applications, 

to authorize awards to support research on distributed ledger technologies 

and their applications, and to authorize an applied research project 

on distributed ledger technologies in commerce. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 28, 2022 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Ms. LUMMIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize the development of a national strategy for the 

research and development of distributed ledger technologies and their applications, to authorize awards to 

support research on distributed ledger technologies and 

their applications, and to authorize an applied research 

project on distributed ledger technologies in commerce. 

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 ‘‘National R & D Strat5 egy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) DIRECTOR.—Except as otherwise expressly 

4 provided, the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

5 the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 

6 (2) DISTRIBUTED LEDGER.—The term ‘‘distrib7 uted ledger’’ means a ledger that— 

8 (A) is shared across a set of distributed 

9 nodes, which are devices or processes, that par10 ticipate in a network and store a complete or 

11 partial replica of the ledger; 

12 (B) is synchronized between the nodes; 

13 (C) has data appended to it by following 

14 the ledger’s specified consensus mechanism; 

15 (D) may be accessible to anyone (public) 

16 or restricted to a subset of participants (pri17 vate); and 

18 (E) may require participants to have au19 thorization to perform certain actions 

20 (permissioned) or require no authorization 

21 (permissionless). 

22 (3) DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY.—The 

23 term ‘‘distributed ledger technology’’ means tech24 nology that enables the operation and use of distrib25 uted ledgers. 


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1 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

2 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

3 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

5 (5) RELEVANT CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit7 tees’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

9 and Transportation of the Senate; and 

10 (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and 

11 Technology of the House of Representatives. 

12 (6) SMART CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘smart con13 tract’’ means a computer program stored in a dis14 tributed ledger system that is executed when certain 

15 predefined conditions are satisfied and wherein the 

16 outcome of any execution of the program may be re17 corded on the distributed ledger. 

18 SEC. 3. NATIONAL DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY 

19 R&D STRATEGY. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, or a designee of the 

21 Director, shall, in coordination with the National Science 

22 and Technology Council, and the heads of such other rel23 evant Federal agencies as the Director considers appro24 priate and in consultation with such nongovernmental en25 tities as the Director considers appropriate, develop a naVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Apr 29, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4109.IS S4109

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1 tional strategy for the research and development of dis2 tributed ledger technologies and their applications, with 

3 a particular focus on applications of public and 

4 permissionless distributed ledgers. In developing the na5 tional strategy, the Director shall consider the following: 

6 (1) Current efforts and coordination by Federal 

7 agencies to invest in the research and development 

8 of distributed ledger technologies and their applica9 tions, including through programs like the Small 

10 Business Innovation Research and Small Business 

11 Technology Transfer programs. 

12 (2)(A) The potential benefits and risks of appli13 cations of distributed ledger technologies across dif14 ferent industry sectors, including their potential to— 

15 (i) lower transactions costs and facilitate 

16 new types of commercial transactions; 

17 (ii) protect privacy and increase individ18 uals’ data sovereignty; 

19 (iii) reduce friction to the interoperability 

20 of digital systems; 

21 (iv) increase the accessibility, auditability, 

22 security, efficiency, and transparency of digital 

23 services; 

24 (v) increase market competition in the pro25 vision of digital services; 


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1 (vi) enable dynamic contracting and con2 tract execution through smart contracts; 

3 (vii) enable participants to collaborate in 

4 trustless and disintermediated environments; 

5 (viii) enable the operations and governance 

6 of distributed organizations; and 

7 (ix) create new ownership models for dig8 ital items. 

9 (B) In consideration of the potential risks of 

10 applications of distributed ledger technologies under 

11 subparagraph (A), the Director shall take into ac12 count, where applicable— 

13 (i) software vulnerabilities in distributed 

14 ledger technologies and smart contracts; 

15 (ii) limited consumer literacy on engaging 

16 with applications of distributed ledger tech17 nologies in a secure way; 

18 (iii) the use of distributed ledger tech19 nologies in illicit finance and their use in com20 bating illicit finance; 

21 (iv) manipulative, deceptive, and fraudu22 lent practices that harm consumers engaging 

23 with applications of distributed ledger tech24 nologies; 


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1 (v) the implications of different consensus 

2 mechanisms for digital ledgers and governance 

3 and accountability mechanisms for applications 

4 of distributed ledger technologies, which may 

5 include decentralized networks; 

6 (vi) foreign activities in the development 

7 and deployment of distributed ledger tech8 nologies and their associated tools and infra9 structure; and 

10 (vii) environmental, sustainability, and eco11 nomic impacts of the computational resources 

12 required for distributed ledger technologies. 

13 (3) Potential uses for distributed ledger tech14 nologies that could improve the operations and deliv15 ery of services by Federal agencies, taking into ac16 count the potential of digital ledger technologies 

17 to— 

18 (A) improve the efficiency and effectiveness 

19 of privacy-preserving data sharing among Fed20 eral agencies and with State, local, territorial, 

21 and Tribal governments; 

22 (B) promote government transparency by 

23 improving data sharing with the public; 


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1 (C) introduce or mitigate risks that may 

2 threaten individuals’ rights or access to Federal 

3 services; and 

4 (D) automate and modernize processes for 

5 assessing and ensuring regulatory compliance. 

6 (4) Ways to support public and private sector 

7 dialogue on areas of research that could enhance the 

8 efficiency, scalability, interoperability, security, and 

9 privacy of applications using distributed ledger tech10 nologies. 

11 (5) The need for increased coordination of the 

12 public and private sectors on the development of vol13 untary standards, including those regarding security, 

14 smart contracts, cryptographic protocols, virtual 

15 routing and forwarding, interoperability, zero-knowl16 edge proofs, and privacy, for distributed ledger tech17 nologies and their applications. 

18 (6) Applications of distributed ledger tech19 nologies that could positively benefit society but that 

20 receive relatively little private sector investment. 

21 (7) The United States position in global leader22 ship and competitiveness across research, develop23 ment, and deployment of distributed ledger tech24 nologies. 

25 (b) CONSULTATION.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the Direc2 tor’s duties under this section, the Director shall 

3 consult with the following: 

4 (A) Private industry. 

5 (B) Institutions of higher education. 

6 (C) Nonprofit organizations, including 

7 foundations dedicated to supporting distributed 

8 ledger technologies and their applications. 

9 (D) State governments. 

10 (E) Such other persons as the Director 

11 considers appropriate. 

12 (2) REPRESENTATION.—The Director shall en13 sure consultations with the following: 

14 (A) Rural and urban stakeholders from 

15 across the Nation. 

16 (B) Small, medium, and large businesses. 

17 (C) Subject matter experts representing 

18 multiple industrial sectors. 

19 (c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 

20 Director shall, for purposes of avoiding duplication of ac21 tivities, consult, cooperate, and coordinate with the pro22 grams and policies of other relevant Federal agencies, in23 cluding the interagency process outlined in section 3 of 

24 Executive Order 14067 (87 Fed. Reg. 14143; relating en25 suring responsible development of digital assets). 


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1 (d) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—Not later than 1 year 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 

3 submit to the relevant congressional committees and the 

4 President a national strategy that includes the following: 

5 (1) Priorities for the research and development 

6 of distributed ledger technologies and their applica7 tions. 

8 (2) Plans to support public and private sector 

9 investment and partnerships in research and tech10 nology development for societally beneficial applica11 tions of distributed ledger technologies. 

12 (3) Plans to mitigate the risks of distributed 

13 ledger technologies and their applications. 

14 (4) An identification of additional resources, ad15 ministrative action, or legislative action rec16 ommended to assist with the implementation of such 

17 strategy. 

18 (e) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING.—The 

19 Director shall, as the Director considers necessary, consult 

20 with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

21 and with the heads of such other elements of the Executive 

22 Office of the President as the Director considers appro23 priate, to ensure that the recommendations and priorities 

24 with respect to research and development funding, as ex25 pressed in the national strategy developed under this secVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Apr 29, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4109.IS S4109

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1 tion, are incorporated in the development of annual budget 

2 requests for Federal research agencies. 

3 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

4 are authorized to be appropriated to the Director 

5 $1,000,000 to carry out this section for fiscal years 2022 

6 and 2023. 

7 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

9 Science Foundation shall make awards, on a competitive 

10 basis, to institutions of higher education or nonprofit orga11 nizations (or consortia of such institutions or organiza12 tions) to support research, including socio-technical re13 search, on distributed ledger technologies and their appli14 cations, with a particular focus on applications of public 

15 and permissionless distributed ledgers, which may include 

16 research on— 

17 (1) the implications on trust, transparency, pri18 vacy, accountability, and energy consumption of dif19 ferent consensus mechanisms and hardware choices, 

20 and approaches for addressing these implications; 

21 (2) approaches for improving the security, pri22 vacy, resiliency, interoperability, performance, and 

23 scalability of distributed ledger technologies and 

24 their applications, which may include decentralized 

25 networks; 


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1 (3) approaches for identifying and addressing 

2 vulnerabilities and improving the performance and 

3 expressive power of smart contracts; 

4 (4) the implications of quantum computing on 

5 applications of distributed ledger technologies, in6 cluding long-term protection of sensitive information 

7 (such as medical or digital property), and techniques 

8 to address them; 

9 (5) game theory, mechanism design, and eco10 nomics underpinning and facilitating the operations 

11 and governance of decentralized networks enabled by 

12 distributed ledger technologies; 

13 (6) the social behaviors of participants in decen14 tralized networks enabled by distributed ledger tech15 nologies; 

16 (7) human-centric design approaches to make 

17 distributed ledger technologies and their applications 

18 more usable and accessible; and 

19 (8) use cases for distributed ledger technologies 

20 across various industry sectors and government, in21 cluding applications pertaining to— 

22 (A) digital identity, including trusted iden23 tity and identity management; 

24 (B) digital property rights; 

25 (C) delivery of public services; 


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1 (D) supply chain transparency; 

2 (E) medical information management; 

3 (F) inclusive financial services; 

4 (G) community governance; 

5 (H) charitable giving; 

6 (I) public goods funding; 

7 (J) digital credentials; 

8 (K) regulatory compliance; 

9 (L) infrastructure resilience; and 

10 (M) peer-to-peer transactions. 

11 (b) ACCELERATING INNOVATION.—The Director of 

12 the National Science Foundation shall consider supporting 

13 startups that leverage distributed ledger technologies, 

14 have the potential to positively benefit society, and have 

15 the potential for commercial viability, through programs 

16 like the Small Business Innovation Research and Small 

17 Business Technology Transfer programs. 

18 (c) CONSIDERATION OF NATIONAL DISTRIBUTED

19 LEDGER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

20 STRATEGY.—In making awards under subsection (a), the 

21 Director of the National Science Foundation shall take 

22 into account the national strategy, as described in section 

23 3(d). 

24 (d) FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH.—The Director of the 

25 National Science Foundation shall continue to make 


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1 awards supporting fundamental research in areas related 

2 to distributed ledger technologies and their applications, 

3 such as applied cryptography and distributed systems. 

4 SEC. 5. DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY APPLIED RE5 SEARCH PROJECT. 

6 (a) APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECT.—Subject to the 

7 availability of appropriations, the Director of the National 

8 Institute of Standards and Technology, shall carry out an 

9 applied research project to study and demonstrate the po10 tential benefits and unique capabilities of distributed ledg11 er technologies. 

12 (b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the applied re13 search project, the Director of the National Institute of 

14 Standards and Technology shall— 

15 (1) identify potential applications of distributed 

16 ledger technologies, including those that could ben17 efit activities at the Department of Commerce or at 

18 other Federal agencies, considering applications that 

19 could— 

20 (A) improve the privacy and interoper21 ability of digital identity and access manage22 ment solutions; 

23 (B) increase the integrity and transparency 

24 of supply chains through the secure and limited 

25 sharing of relevant supplier information; 


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1 (C) facilitate increased interoperability 

2 across healthcare information systems and con3 sumer control over the movement of their med4 ical data; or 

5 (D) be of benefit to the public or private 

6 sectors, as determined by the Director in con7 sultation with relevant stakeholders; 

8 (2) solicit and provide the opportunity for pub9 lic comment relevant to potential projects; 

10 (3) consider, in the selection of a project, 

11 whether the project addresses a pressing need not 

12 already addressed by another organization or Fed13 eral agency; 

14 (4) establish plans to mitigate potential risks, 

15 for example those to privacy, of potential projects; 

16 (5) produce an example solution leveraging dis17 tributed ledger technologies for 1 of the applications 

18 identified in paragraph (1); 

19 (6) hold a competitive process to select private 

20 sector partners, if they are engaged, to support the 

21 implementation of the example solution; 

22 (7) consider hosting the project at the National 

23 Cybersecurity Center of Excellence; and 

24 (8) ensure that cybersecurity best practices con25 sistent with the Cybersecurity Framework of the NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Apr 29, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4109.IS S4109

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1 tional Institute of Standards and Technology are 

2 demonstrated in the project. 

3 (c) BRIEFINGS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 

5 the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall 

6 offer a briefing to the relevant congressional committees 

7 on the progress and current findings from the project 

8 under this section. 

9 (d) PUBLIC REPORT.—Not later than 12 months 

10 after the completion of the project under this section, the 

11 Director of the National Institute of Standards and Tech12 nology shall make public a report on the results and find13 ings from the project. 

Æ 


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