State of Illinois’s Bill Threatens the Key Features of Blockchain

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Jeff Horseman
Jeff Horseman
Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper. Today, Jeff writes about anything and everything. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.
  • Sen. Peters introduced a bill under the Digital Property Protection and Law Enforcement Act.
  • The defaulters of the law will face a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

In the State of Illinois, Senator Robert Peters introduced a bill under the Digital Property Protection and Law Enforcement Act, on the 9th of February. The motto behind this bill (SB1887) is to protect the people in the state against digital property crimes and fraud. 

To summarize the bill in short, the State Attorney or Attorney General’s request will be processed by the court to order a blockchain transaction without the declaration of a private key. The first set of voting for the bill was during the introduction itself. And two more are in line to go.

Section 15 (b) of SB1887 states:

“A blockchain network that processes a blockchain transaction originating in this State at any time after the effective date of this Act shall process a court-ordered blockchain transaction without the need for the private key associated with the digital property or smart contract.”

This act will come into effect after 30 days of modification as a bill. And after that, the court will have access to order any transaction or the node operator originating in Illinois. The defaulters of the law will face a civil penalty of up to $10,000.

Worries of Blockchain Community

This proposed bill is in a way crumbling the key factors of blockchain technology, like immutability and decentralization of blockchain technology. Both theoretically and technically, the implication of the proposed bill is not viable. And few crypto advocates are addressing it to be a “unworkable state law”.

Illinois was a “pro-innovation” zone, but this bill has left the community in shock. Texas, a geography that is 1000 miles away from Illinois declared a bill last November to increase the crypto adoption rate. The bill practically encourages cryptocurrency purchases, by declining the tax on them. Each location is implementing different principles to stay updated with the current digital world.

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