Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., have introduced a bill that would direct the federal government to coordinate research and development initiatives on distributed ledger technologies.
The National R&D Strategy for Distributed Ledger Technology Act would require the Office of Science and Technology Policy to come up with a national strategy for R&D with regard to DLT and its applications, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee said Monday.
“It is imperative that we maintain global leadership in the development of emerging technologies, including distributed ledger technology,” Wicker said. “This bill would launch pivotal exploration into this promising and novel architecture for computing and data storage.”
The measure would also direct the National Science Foundation to continue backing DLT-related research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to take part in an applied research project to investigate and demonstrate the potential benefits of DLT.
“Distributed ledger technology has the potential to make commerce more secure and transparent, as well as reduce marketplace friction. … We need to make sure existing regulations do not stand in the way of innovation,” Lummis said.
