Digital asset staking and the state’s securities laws

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

Under current law, a person may not offer or sell any security in this state unless the security is registered with the Department of Financial Institutions, the security or transaction is exempt from registration, or the security is a federal covered security.

This bill specifies that digital asset staking and “staking as a service” are not securities under the state’s securities laws. The bill defines a “digital asset” as any digital representation of value that is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or other similar technology, including cryptocurrency. The bill defines “staking” as the act of committing or locking a digital asset to support the security and operations of a blockchain protocol that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism by either operating a validator node or delegating the digital asset to a validator. The bill defines “staking as a service” as the provision of technical solutions by a third-party service provider to token owners to enable their participation in staking.

Who's behind it

6 representatives are its authors⁠. All 6 are Republicans.

2 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.