Yesterday, the Iowa members’ house of reps legislated the bill to accept enrolments and transfers that are blockchain-built or made with smart contracts. The Senate had previously approved this bill (known as SF541) this month.
A Brief Explanation of What This Legislation Entails
With this recent legalized document, smart and regular contracts would have similar legal status. In addition, the DLT would now be recognized as a dependable account store albeit electronically.
The part of this legislation about smart contracts states that: “according to this legislation, a contract is deemed legitimate and can be enforced whether it has a smart contract provision or it is a smart contract.” Furthermore, the legislation reiterated that broadcasting ownership or rights registration on a blockchain network doesn’t make it invalid except when there is a direct link between the transaction and the transfer of privileges.
Anyone that uses distributed ledger technology to safeguard the information that he owns or has obtained the right of ownership retains the same ownership privileges in the same way he would own such rights without the use of a distributed ledger technology. However, there is a caveat that comes with this part of the legislation which is, “except when the deal clearly allows the rights of ownership transfer or use for the aforementioned information.”
This newly adopted bill is an update to a previously approved bill that was designed to excuse virtual assets from some laws regarding money transmission and securities. Thus, they now form part of the state authorities’ efforts in providing a suitable legal foundation for blockchain-related projects in the future.
Representatives Give Their Opinion On the Bill
There was no objection to the bill’s approval when all reps made the vote yesterday. When the Senate approved the bill in the first week of this month, the bill also passed through via unanimous decision. The Senate’s vote was 47-0, while the reps’ vote was 94-0. The Gazette, an Iowa daily newspaper, reports Steve Hansen’s opinion in which he stated that adopting this bill will result in wider monitoring for crypto assets, including BTC.
Jeff Shipley opined that the bill will form the basis of laid-own procedures for monitoring digital assets even if it will work as a temporary measure. He further stated that he assumes that BTC should also be subjected to the same rules.
The timing of this new legislation couldn’t have been more perfect as interest in blockchain technology and smart contracts continue to grow in Iowa and other states of the country. Since there are several blockchain and smart-contract-built technology in all spheres of the economy, this new legislation provides developers, firms, and creators a firm legal backing to deploy distributed-ledger technology and smart contracts.
There have been several calls for Iowa to introduce a legal framework for a better dependence on these technologies now and in the long-term. It now seems the authorities have listened to those calls and have responded appropriately.
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