Washington State Introduces Bill Encouraging Development of Blockchain and DLT

The Washington State Senate introduced a bill that would-through amending existing legislation-encourage the development of distributed ledger and blockchain technology.

On Jan. 25th, the Washington State Senate introduced SB 5638, an act "Relating to the recognizing the validity of distributed ledger technology." The bill would amend and add to an act already in state law, the "Washington Electronic Authentication Act," revising the "Purpose and construction" and "Definitions" sections of the act.

The new blockchain bill would revise the act to include "Encouraging the development of distributed ledger technology" to the above list.

The bill completed its first reading and is currently headed to committee, which is a nonpartisan division of the state legislature that conducts analysis and research on proposed legislation.

Washington State is a tech hub in the Pacific Northwest, with Microsoft and Amazon headquartered locally.

The State boasts a strong presence from Facebook and Google, as well.

That said, the State is also developing a robust blockchain scene, with companies such as NEM, StormX, RChain, Stably, and other projects actively innovating within state boundaries.

Formal recognition and support of the technology at the government level may accelerate the crypto-innovation within the state.

Across the United States, there are bills getting drafted and passed supporting blockchain technology.

Wyoming recently passed a series of pro-blockchain bills, followed by states such as Ohio, Arizona, and even Washington, DC, for federal legislation.