I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2154 
To authorize additional appropriations to the Federal Trade Commission 
to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or practices relating to digital tokens 
and transactions relating to digital tokens, and to require a report 
to Congress on the Commission’s actions related to digital tokens. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 9, 2019 
Mr. SOTO (for himself and Mr. DAVIDSON of Ohio) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To authorize additional appropriations to the Federal Trade 
Commission to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or prac-
tices relating to digital tokens and transactions relating 
to digital tokens, and to require a report to Congress 
on the Commission’s actions related to digital tokens. 
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 ‘‘Digital Taxonomy Act 
of 2019’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:48 Apr 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2154.IH
H2154
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS TO PREVENT 
UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES 
RELATING TO DIGITAL TOKENS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Federal 
Trade Commission $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2020 through 2024 to prevent unfair or deceptive acts or 
practices in transactions relating to digital tokens pursu-
ant to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
U.S.C. 45). 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF DIGITAL TOKENS. 
As used in this Act— 
(1) the term ‘‘digital token’’ means a digital 
unit— 
(A) that is programmed with rules that 
govern its creation, supply, ownership, use, and 
transfer, where such rules are designed to resist 
modification or tampering by any single person 
or persons under common control; 
(B) that has a transaction history that— 
(i) is recorded in a distributed, digital 
ledger or digital data structure in which 
consensus is achieved through a mathe-
matically verifiable process; and 
(ii) after consensus is reached, is de-
signed to resist modification or tampering 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:48 Apr 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2154.IH
H2154
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
by any single person or persons under 
common control; 
(C) that is capable of being transferred be-
tween persons in a decentralized fashion with-
out an intermediate custodian; and 
(D) that is not a representation of a finan-
cial interest in a company or partnership, in-
cluding an ownership or debt interest or rev-
enue share; and 
(2) the term ‘‘digital unit’’— 
(A) means a representation of economic, 
proprietary, or access rights that is stored in a 
computer-readable format; and 
(B) does not include a store of value. 
SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 
Beginning one year after the date of enactment of 
this Act and each year thereafter, the Federal Trade Com-
mission shall transmit a report to the Committee on En-
ergy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 
of the Senate of— 
(1) any actions taken by the Commission relat-
ing to unfair or deceptive acts or practices in trans-
actions relating to digital tokens; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:48 Apr 17, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2154.IH
H2154
kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS