US House Committee Unanimously Approves Deploying American Blockchains Act

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce has unanimously approved the Deploying American Blockchains Act, a legislation directing the U.S. secretary of commerce to support blockchain technology. The 13-page legislation is not among the major bills that the crypto industry is eagerly awaiting, but it marks a small step forward for congressional efforts friendly to crypto. This act joins several other crypto bills that have cleared committee votes for the first time on their way to the House floor, although none have yet been approved by the overall House. The legislation, which was voted 46-0 in a work session, directs the chief of the Department of Commerce to promote the competitiveness of the United States in relation to the deployment, use, application, and competitiveness of blockchain technology or other distributed ledger technology. However, the bill does not currently have a counterpart in the U.S. Senate, which is the main drawback of most crypto legislation this year. The Democrat-controlled chamber has not been quick to embrace any digital assets bills and is widely believed to be unlikely to change course. The best chance for such bills may be negotiations that combine them with other efforts into larger must-pass legislation. Ron Hammond, the Blockchain Association's director of government relations, said that at least on the tech side of things, Energy and Commerce is unanimously in support, and there's nothing partisan about it. He added that these bills have either been combined into larger bills or led to agency action at Commerce, which has been very open to conversation.