I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8524 
To amend the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act 
to clarify the applicability of such Act to electronic records, electronic 
signatures, and smart contracts created, stored, or secured on or through 
a blockchain, to provide uniform national standards regarding the legal 
effect, validity, and enforceability of such records, signatures, and con-
tracts, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 2, 2020 
Mr. SCHWEIKERT (for himself and Mr. SOTO) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Electronic Signatures in Global and National 
Commerce Act to clarify the applicability of such Act 
to electronic records, electronic signatures, and smart 
contracts created, stored, or secured on or through a 
blockchain, to provide uniform national standards regard-
ing the legal effect, validity, and enforceability of such 
records, signatures, and contracts, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Blockchain Records 
and Transactions Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES IN 
GLOBAL AND NATIONAL COMMERCE ACT. 
(a) VALIDITY
OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS, ELEC-
TRONIC SIGNATURES, AND SMART CONTRACTS USING 
BLOCKCHAIN.—Section 101(a) of the Electronic Signa-
tures in Global and National Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. 
7001(a)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 
inserting a semicolon; 
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 
the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(3) an electronic record, electronic signature, 
or smart contract may not be denied legal effect, va-
lidity, or enforceability solely because it is created, 
stored, or secured on or through a blockchain.’’. 
(b) EXEMPTION TO PREEMPTION.—Section 102 of 
the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Com-
merce Act (15 U.S.C. 7002) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘IN GEN-
ERAL’’ and inserting ‘‘ELECTRONIC RECORDS 
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‘‘(1) 
BLOCKCHAIN.—The 
term 
‘blockchain’ 
means software that uses a distributed digital ledger 
of cryptographically signed transactions that are 
grouped into blocks, each of which— 
‘‘(A) is cryptographically linked to the pre-
vious block after validation and undergoing a 
consensus decision; and 
‘‘(B) when added as a new block, makes 
any older blocks more difficult to modify and is 
replicated across all copies of the ledger within 
the relevant network, with any conflicts in such 
blocks resolved automatically using established 
rules.’’; and 
(4) by inserting after paragraph (12) (as so re-
designated) the following: 
‘‘(13) SMART
CONTRACT.—The term ‘smart 
contract’ means a computer program that reflects an 
agreement, in whole or in part, between two or more 
parties to execute transactions automatically based 
on the occurrence of agreed-upon events.’’. 
Æ 
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