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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7310
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5520
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE USE OF SMART CONTRACTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Blockchain technology" means distributed ledger technology 2
that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared and replicated ledger that 3
may be public or private, permissioned or permissionless and that may 4
include the use of electronic currencies or electronic tokens as a 5
medium of electronic exchange; 6
(2) "Cryptographic signature" means the use of public key 7
algorithms to provide data integrity; 8
(3) "Distributed ledger technology" means any database that is 9
consensually shared and synchronized across multiple sites, 10
institutions or geographies allowing for public witnesses to such 11
transactions and may include supporting infrastructure, including 12
blockchain technology, that uses a distributed, decentralized, shared 13
and replicated ledger, whether public or private, permissioned or 14 Raised Bill No. 7310
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permissionless, and that may include the use of electronic currencies or 15
electronic tokens as a medium of electronic storage; and 16
(4) "Smart contract" means an event-driven computer program that 17
executes on an electronic, distributed, decentralized, shared and 18
replicated ledger that is used to automate transactions, including, but 19
not limited to, transactions that (A) take custody over and instruct 20
transfer of assets on such ledger, (B) create and distribute electronic 21
assets, (C) synchronize information, or (D) manage identity and user 22
access to software applications. 23
(b) Any cryptographic signature that is generated and stored 24
through distributed ledger technology shall be considered to be in an 25
electronic form and to be an electronic signature. 26
(c) Any record or contract that is secured through distributed ledger 27
technology shall be considered to be in an electronic form and an 28
electronic record. 29
(d) Smart contracts may be utilized in commerce conducted or 30
initiated in this state. No contract relating to a transaction shall be 31
denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because such 32
contract is executed through a smart contract. 33
(e) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, any 34
person who, in or affecting commerce, uses distributed ledger 35
technology to secure information that such person owns or has the 36
right to use shall retain the same rights of ownership or use with 37
respect to such information as such person would have without the 38
use of distributed ledger technology. Nothing in this section shall be 39
construed to apply to the use of distributed ledger technology to 40
secure information in connection with a transaction to the extent that 41
the terms of such transaction expressly provide for the transfer or 42
rights of ownership or use with respect to such information. 43
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect whether any 44
other technology not defined in subsection (a) of this section that 45 Raised Bill No. 7310
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secures signatures, records or contracts or that is considered to be in an 46
electronic form or an electronic signature or electronic record, as 47
applicable. 48
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To authorize the use of smart contracts in commerce in the state.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]