OVERVIEW OF BLOCKCHAIN LEGISLATION AND ADOPTION: STATUS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

Blockchain is hailed as the technology that will disrupt the way assets of value are transacted. According to World Economic Forum (2018), “Blockchain is a foundational emerging technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, much like the internet was for the previous (or third) industrial revolution” (p.1). The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it identifies how US states/US federal legislature are creating legislation to support blockchain. Second, it identifies the challenges to blockchain adoption. This paper, which utilizes reviews of relevant literature and legislations introduced by US federal and state legislatures, identifies some of the reasons why blockchain has not yet gained widespread adoption. Some US states have taken steps to extend existing electronic transaction regulations to include transactions executed on blockchain technology. However, most states as well as the US federal government still need to begin the process of adopting regulations to facilitate the widespread use of blockchain technology. Federal and state regulators need to consider that regulatory uncertainty is one of the reasons blockchain has not yet gained widespread adoption.