I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6974 
To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain non- 
controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 
Mr. EMMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration 
for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and pro-
viders of blockchain services. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Blockchain Regulatory 
Certainty Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR NON-CONTROLLING BLOCK-
CHAIN DEVELOPERS AND PROVIDERS OF 
BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES. 
(a) 
PROTECTION
FOR
NON-CONTROLLING 
BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES AND SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS.— 
No blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain 
service shall be treated as a money transmitter (as defined 
under State licensing laws, section 1960 of title 18, United 
States Code, and section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of 
Federal Regulations), money services business (as defined 
under section 1010.100 of title 31, Code of Federal Regu-
lation), financial institution (as defined under section 
5312 of title 31, United States Code), or any other State 
or Federal legal designation requiring licensing or reg-
istration as a condition to acting as a blockchain developer 
or provider of a blockchain service, unless the developer 
or provider has, in the regular course of business, control 
over digital currency to which a user is entitled under the 
blockchain service or the software created, maintained, or 
disseminated by the blockchain developer. 
(b) EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS.— 
(1) CRIMINAL
LAW.—Nothing in this section 
shall be construed to impair the enforcement of any 
Federal criminal statute that is consistent with this 
section. 
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(2) INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW.—Nothing 
in this section shall be construed to limit or expand 
any law pertaining to intellectual property. 
(3) STATE LAW.—Nothing in this section shall 
be construed to prevent any State from enforcing 
any State law that is consistent with this section. No 
cause of action may be brought and no liability may 
be imposed under any State or local law that is in-
consistent with this section. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 
(1) BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK.—The term ‘‘block-
chain network’’ means any system of networked 
computers that cooperates to reach consensus over 
the state of a computer program and allows users to 
participate in the consensus-making process without 
the need to license proprietary software or obtain 
permission from any other user. The term includes, 
specifically, a public network of computers that co-
operates to reach consensus over the state of a dis-
tributed ledger describing transactions in a digital 
currency. 
(2) 
BLOCKCHAIN
DEVELOPER.—The 
term 
‘‘blockchain developer’’ means any person or busi-
ness that creates, maintains, or disseminates soft-
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ware facilitating the creation or maintenance of a 
blockchain network or a blockchain service. 
(3) BLOCKCHAIN SERVICE.—The term ‘‘block-
chain service’’ means any information, transaction, 
or computing service or system that provides or en-
ables access to a blockchain network by multiple 
users, including specifically a service or system that 
enables users to send, receive, exchange, or store 
digital currencies described by blockchain networks. 
(4) CONTROL.—The term ‘‘control’’ means the 
legal right, authority, or ability to obtain upon de-
mand data sufficient to initiate transactions spend-
ing an amount of digital currency. 
(5) DIGITAL
CURRENCY.—The term ‘‘digital 
currency’’ means a medium of exchange, a unit of 
account, or a store of value that is represented by 
entries in a distributed ledger generated by a 
blockchain network. 
Æ 
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