A great move towards blockchain adoption. A new US bill in Congress introduced this week by U.S. House Rep. Brett Guthrie asks the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to consider a national blockchain strategy! - Gartner predicts global blockchain use to generate over US$3 trillion by 2030 - Australia released its National Blockchain Roadmap in February 2020, also identifying enormous potential economic benefits for the country.
Congressman Guthrie's new Bill comes a few weeks after 11 members of the U.S. Congress petitioned the Treasury Department to use blockchain technology to aid in distributing COVID-19 relief funds. The petition letter calls for the US Government to leverage "American ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and innovation" - through reliance on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies(DLT). The request was presented in a letter from the lawmakers to Steven Mnuchin, secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department. The letter sent on April 23rd was made public on April 28 - See original Letter here.
Guthrie's Bill Here -> Advancing Blockchain Act FINAL
So far The House of Representatives and U.S. Senators have introduced over 30+ congregational bills in which:
· At least 13 bills focus on regulatory frameworks,
· Around 5 bills promote ways blockchain technology can be used by the U.S. Gov including two newest bills covering the concept of a digital dollar, and
· About 3 bills give attention to ways to empower central regulators prudential frameworks to use blockchain, Digital ID and AI.
It is very encouraging to see the level of interest by the US Congress which is now growing beyond what has typically been the interest of just a handful of legislators in previous years.