HR 3533 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act
To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services.
Summary
The bill creates a safe harbor exempting blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services from being treated as money transmitters or financial institutions requiring licensing and registration. The exemption applies unless the developer or provider has direct control over digital assets to which users are entitled, meaning they possess the unilateral legal right to access and spend digital assets on demand without third-party approval. The bill defines blockchain networks, services, and digital assets, and preserves existing intellectual property law while preempting inconsistent state or local regulations.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Emmer, Tom [R-MN-6] (R-MN)
5 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- May 21, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. · house
- May 21, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 21, 2025
Mr. Emmer (for himself and Mr. Torres of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
A BILL
To provide a safe harbor from licensing and registration for certain non-controlling blockchain developers and providers of blockchain services.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act”.
SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR NON-CONTROLLING BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS AND PROVIDERS OF BLOCKCHAIN SERVICES.
(a) Protection for Non-Controlling Blockchain Services and Software Developers.—No blockchain developer or provider of a blockchain service shall be treated as a money transmitter or as engaging in “money transmitting” (as defined under any State or Federal law), a financial institution (as defined under section 5312 of title 31, United States Code), any other State or Federal legal designation requiring licensing or registration, or triggering liability for unlicensed or unregistered conduct, unless the developer or provider has, in the regular course of business, control over digital assets to which a user is entitled under the blockchain service or the software created, maintained, or disseminated by the blockchain developer or provider.
(b) Effect on Other Laws.—
(1) Intellectual property law.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or expand any law pertaining to intellectual property.
(2) 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 inconsistent with this section.
(c) Definitions.—As used in this section:
(1) Blockchain developer.—The term “blockchain developer” means any person or business that creates, maintains, or disseminates software facilitating the creation or maintenance of a blockchain network or a blockchain service.
(2) Blockchain network.—The term “blockchain 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 “blockchain network” includes, specifically, a public network of computers that cooperates to reach consensus over the state of a distributed ledger describing transactions in a digital asset.
(3) Blockchain service.—The term “blockchain service” means any information, transaction, or computing service or system that provides or enables access to a blockchain network by multiple users, including specifically a service or system that enables users to send, receive, exchange, or store digital assets described by blockchain networks.
(4) Control.—The term “control” means the unilateral and independent legal right, authority, or ability to obtain upon demand data sufficient to initiate transactions spending an amount of digital assets, without requiring the approval, consent, or direction of any other third party.
(5) Digital asset.—The term “digital asset” means any form of intangible personal property that can be exclusively possessed and transferred person to person without necessary reliance on an intermediary. <all>
Comments