I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1747 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2023 

Mr. EMMER (for himself and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration 

for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services. 

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 ‘‘Blockchain Regulatory 

5 Certainty Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR NON-CONTROLLING 

7 BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS AND PROVIDERS 

8 OF BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES. 

9 (a) PROTECTION FOR NON-CONTROLLING

10 BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS.— 


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1 No blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain serv2 ice shall be treated as a money transmitter (as defined 

3 under State licensing laws), a financial institution (as de4 fined under section 5312 of title 31, United States Code), 

5 or any other State or Federal legal designation requiring 

6 licensing or registration as a condition to acting as a 

7 blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain service, 

8 unless the developer or provider has, in the regular course 

9 of business, control over digital assets to which a user is 

10 entitled under the blockchain service or the software cre11 ated, maintained, or disseminated by the blockchain devel12 oper. 

13 (b) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 

14 (1) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW.—Nothing 

15 in this section shall be construed to limit or expand 

16 any law pertaining to intellectual property. 

17 (2) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this section shall 

18 be construed to prevent any State from enforcing 

19 any State law that is consistent with this section. No 

20 cause of action may be brought and no liability may 

21 be imposed under any State or local law that is in22 consistent with this section. 

23 (c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

24 (1) BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPER.—The term 

25 ‘‘blockchain developer’’ means any person or busiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:43 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1747.IH H1747

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1 ness that creates, maintains, or disseminates soft2 ware facilitating the creation or maintenance of a 

3 blockchain network or a blockchain service. 

4 (2) BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK.—The term 

5 ‘‘blockchain network’’ means any system of 

6 networked computers that cooperates to reach con7 sensus over the state of a computer program and al8 lows users to participate in the consensus-making 

9 process without the need to license proprietary soft10 ware or obtain permission from any other user. The 

11 term includes, specifically, a public network of com12 puters that cooperates to reach consensus over the 

13 state of a distributed ledger describing transactions 

14 in a digital asset. 

15 (3) BLOCKCHAIN SERVICE.—The term 

16 ‘‘blockchain service’’ means any information, trans17 action, or computing service or system that provides 

18 or enables access to a blockchain network by mul19 tiple users, including specifically a service or system 

20 that enables users to send, receive, exchange, or 

21 store digital assets described by blockchain net22 works. 

23 (4) CONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means the 

24 legal right, authority, or ability to obtain upon deVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:43 Apr 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1747.IH H1747

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1 mand data sufficient to initiate transactions spend2 ing an amount of digital assets. 

3 (5) DIGITAL ASSET.—The term ‘‘digital asset’’ 

4 means any form of intangible personal property that 

5 can be exclusively possessed and transferred person 

6 to person without necessary reliance on an inter7 mediary. 

Æ 


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