I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 528 
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 
JANUARY 14, 2019 
Mr. EMMER (for himself and Mr. SOTO) 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 deter-
mined 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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(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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