I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8065 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 14, 2022 
Mr. WALTZ (for himself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. SWALWELL, and Mr. 
GOTTHEIMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
A BILL 
To authorize the development of a national strategy for the 
research and development of distributed ledger tech-
nologies 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. 
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 ‘‘National R & D Strat-
egy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act of 2022’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) DIRECTOR.—Except as otherwise expressly 
provided, the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 
the Office of Science and Technology Policy. 
(2) DISTRIBUTED LEDGER.—The term ‘‘distrib-
uted ledger’’ means a ledger that— 
(A) is shared across a set of distributed 
nodes, which are devices or processes, that par-
ticipate in a network and store a complete or 
partial replica of the ledger; 
(B) is synchronized between the nodes; 
(C) has data appended to it by following 
the ledger’s specified consensus mechanism; 
(D) may be accessible to anyone (public) 
or restricted to a subset of participants (pri-
vate); and 
(E) may require participants to have au-
thorization 
to 
perform 
certain 
actions 
(permissioned) or require no authorization 
(permissionless). 
(3) DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY.—The 
term ‘‘distributed ledger technology’’ means tech-
nology that enables the operation and use of distrib-
uted ledgers. 
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(4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 
(5) 
RELEVANT
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘relevant congressional commit-
tees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology of the House of Representatives. 
(6) SMART CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘smart con-
tract’’ means a computer program stored in a dis-
tributed ledger system that is executed when certain 
predefined conditions are satisfied and wherein the 
outcome of any execution of the program may be re-
corded on the distributed ledger. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY 
R&D STRATEGY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director, or a designee of the 
Director, shall, in coordination with the National Science 
and Technology Council, and the heads of such other rel-
evant Federal agencies and entities as the Director con-
siders appropriate, which may include the National Acad-
emies, and in consultation with such nongovernmental en-
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(iv) increase the accessibility, auditability, 
security, efficiency, and transparency of digital 
services; 
(v) increase market competition in the pro-
vision of digital services; 
(vi) enable dynamic contracting and con-
tract execution through smart contracts; 
(vii) enable participants to collaborate in 
trustless and disintermediated environments; 
(viii) enable the operations and governance 
of distributed organizations; 
(ix) create new ownership models for dig-
ital items; and 
(x) increase participation of populations 
historically underrepresented in the technology, 
business, and financial sectors. 
(B) In consideration of the potential risks of 
applications of distributed ledger technologies under 
subparagraph (A), the Director shall take into ac-
count, where applicable— 
(i) additional risks that may emerge from 
distributed ledger technologies, as identified in 
reports submitted to the President pursuant to 
Executive Order 14067, that may be addressed 
by research and development; 
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(ii) software vulnerabilities in distributed 
ledger technologies and smart contracts; 
(iii) limited consumer literacy on engaging 
with applications of distributed ledger tech-
nologies in a secure way; 
(iv) the use of distributed ledger tech-
nologies in illicit finance and their use in com-
bating illicit finance; 
(v) manipulative, deceptive, and fraudulent 
practices that harm consumers engaging with 
applications of distributed ledger technologies; 
(vi) the implications of different consensus 
mechanisms for digital ledgers and governance 
and accountability mechanisms for applications 
of distributed ledger technologies, which may 
include decentralized networks; 
(vii) foreign activities in the development 
and deployment of distributed ledger tech-
nologies and their associated tools and infra-
structure; and 
(viii) environmental, sustainability, and 
economic impacts of the computational re-
sources required for distributed ledger tech-
nologies. 
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(3) Potential uses for distributed ledger tech-
nologies that could improve the operations and deliv-
ery of services by Federal agencies, taking into ac-
count the potential of digital ledger technologies 
to— 
(A) improve the efficiency and effectiveness 
of privacy-preserving data sharing among Fed-
eral agencies and with State, local, territorial, 
and Tribal governments; 
(B) promote government transparency by 
improving data sharing with the public; 
(C) introduce or mitigate risks that may 
threaten individuals’ rights or broad access to 
Federal services; 
(D) automate and modernize processes for 
assessing and ensuring regulatory compliance; 
and 
(E) facilitate broad access to financial 
services for underserved and underbanked popu-
lations. 
(4) Ways to support public and private sector 
dialogue on areas of research that could enhance the 
efficiency, scalability, interoperability, security, and 
privacy of applications using distributed ledger tech-
nologies. 
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(5) The need for increased coordination of the 
public and private sectors on the development of vol-
untary standards in order to promote research and 
development, including standards regarding security, 
smart contracts, cryptographic protocols, virtual 
routing and forwarding, interoperability, zero-knowl-
edge proofs, and privacy, for distributed ledger tech-
nologies and their applications. 
(6) Applications of distributed ledger tech-
nologies that could positively benefit society but that 
receive relatively little private sector investment. 
(7) The United States position in global leader-
ship and competitiveness across research, develop-
ment, and deployment of distributed ledger tech-
nologies. 
(b) CONSULTATION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the Direc-
tor’s duties under this section, the Director shall 
consult with the following: 
(A) Private industry. 
(B) Institutions of higher education, in-
cluding minority-serving institutions. 
(C) Nonprofit organizations, including 
foundations dedicated to supporting distributed 
ledger technologies and their applications. 
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(D) State governments. 
(E) Such other persons as the Director 
considers appropriate. 
(2) REPRESENTATION.—The Director shall en-
sure consultations with the following: 
(A) Rural and urban stakeholders from 
across the Nation. 
(B) Small, medium, and large businesses. 
(C) Subject matter experts representing 
multiple industrial sectors. 
(D) A demographically diverse set of stake-
holders. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this section, the 
Director shall, for purposes of avoiding duplication of ac-
tivities, consult, cooperate, and coordinate with the pro-
grams and policies of other relevant Federal agencies, in-
cluding the interagency process outlined in section 3 of 
Executive Order 14067 (87 Fed. Reg. 14143; relating en-
suring responsible development of digital assets). 
(d) NATIONAL STRATEGY.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall 
submit to the relevant congressional committees and the 
President a national strategy that includes the following: 
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(1) Priorities for the research and development 
of distributed ledger technologies and their applica-
tions. 
(2) Plans to support public and private sector 
investment and partnerships in research and tech-
nology development for societally beneficial applica-
tions of distributed ledger technologies. 
(3) Plans to mitigate the risks of distributed 
ledger technologies and their applications. 
(4) An identification of additional resources, ad-
ministrative 
action, 
or 
legislative 
action 
rec-
ommended to assist with the implementation of such 
strategy. 
(e) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDING.—The 
Director shall, as the Director considers necessary, consult 
with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
and with the heads of such other elements of the Executive 
Office of the President as the Director considers appro-
priate, to ensure that the recommendations and priorities 
with respect to research and development funding, as ex-
pressed in the national strategy developed under this sec-
tion, are incorporated in the development of annual budget 
requests for Federal research agencies. 
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SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 
Science Foundation shall make awards, on a competitive 
basis, to institutions of higher education, including minor-
ity-serving institutions, or nonprofit organizations (or con-
sortia of such institutions or organizations) to support re-
search, including interdisciplinary research, on distributed 
ledger technologies, their applications, and other issues 
that impact or are caused by distributed ledger tech-
nologies, which may include research on— 
(1) the implications on trust, transparency, pri-
vacy, accessibility, accountability, and energy con-
sumption of different consensus mechanisms and 
hardware choices, and approaches for addressing 
these implications; 
(2) approaches for improving the security, pri-
vacy, resiliency, interoperability, performance, and 
scalability of distributed ledger technologies and 
their applications, which may include decentralized 
networks; 
(3) approaches for identifying and addressing 
vulnerabilities and improving the performance and 
expressive power of smart contracts; 
(4) the implications of quantum computing on 
applications of distributed ledger technologies, in-
cluding long-term protection of sensitive information 
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(such as medical or digital property), and techniques 
to address them; 
(5) game theory, mechanism design, and eco-
nomics underpinning and facilitating the operations 
and governance of decentralized networks enabled by 
distributed ledger technologies; 
(6) the social behaviors of participants in decen-
tralized networks enabled by distributed ledger tech-
nologies; 
(7) human-centric design approaches to make 
distributed ledger technologies and their applications 
more usable and accessible; 
(8) use cases for distributed ledger technologies 
across various industry sectors and government, in-
cluding applications pertaining to— 
(A) digital identity, including trusted iden-
tity and identity management; 
(B) digital property rights; 
(C) delivery of public services; 
(D) supply chain transparency; 
(E) medical information management; 
(F) inclusive financial services; 
(G) community governance; 
(H) charitable giving; 
(I) public goods funding; 
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(J) digital credentials; 
(K) regulatory compliance; 
(L) infrastructure resilience, including 
against natural disasters; and 
(M) peer-to-peer transactions; and 
(9) the social, behavioral, and economic implica-
tions associated with the growth of applications of 
distributed ledger technologies, including decen-
tralization in business, financial, and economic sys-
tems. 
(b) ACCELERATING INNOVATION.—The Director of 
the National Science Foundation shall consider continuing 
to support startups that are in need of funding, would de-
velop in and contribute to the economy of the United 
States, leverage distributed ledger technologies, have the 
potential to positively benefit society, and have the poten-
tial for commercial viability, through programs like the 
Small Business Innovation Research program, the Small 
Business Technology Transfer program, and, as appro-
priate, other programs that promote broad and diverse 
participation. 
(c) CONSIDERATION
OF NATIONAL DISTRIBUTED 
LEDGER TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
STRATEGY.—In making awards under subsection (a), the 
Director of the National Science Foundation shall take 
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into account the national strategy, as described in section 
3(d). 
(d) FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH.—The Director of the 
National Science Foundation shall consider continuing to 
make awards supporting fundamental research in areas 
related to distributed ledger technologies and their appli-
cations, such as applied cryptography and distributed sys-
tems. 
SEC. 5. DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY APPLIED RE-
SEARCH PROJECT. 
(a) APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECT.—Subject to the 
availability of appropriations, the Director of the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology may carry out an 
applied research project to study and demonstrate the po-
tential benefits and unique capabilities of distributed ledg-
er technologies. 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the applied re-
search project, the Director of the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology shall— 
(1) identify potential applications of distributed 
ledger technologies, including those that could ben-
efit activities at the Department of Commerce or at 
other Federal agencies, considering applications that 
could— 
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(A) improve the privacy and interoper-
ability of digital identity and access manage-
ment solutions; 
(B) increase the integrity and transparency 
of supply chains through the secure and limited 
sharing of relevant supplier information; 
(C) facilitate increased interoperability 
across healthcare information systems and con-
sumer control over the movement of their med-
ical data; 
(D) facilitate broader participation in dis-
tributed ledger technologies of populations his-
torically underrepresented in technology, busi-
ness, and financial sectors; or 
(E) be of benefit to the public or private 
sectors, as determined by the Director in con-
sultation with relevant stakeholders; 
(2) solicit and provide the opportunity for pub-
lic comment relevant to potential projects; 
(3) consider, in the selection of a project, 
whether the project addresses a pressing need not 
already addressed by another organization or Fed-
eral agency; 
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