According to official sources, a bill filed under number 1357 was introduced in the House of Representatives of the Congress of Florida (United States), with the aim of creating a legal database of blockchain and smart contracts that could be in accordance with the regulatory guidelines of the nation.
The initiative of law is constituted by a multiple group of stipulations on the blockchain and intelligent contracts, linked to the storage of data; an action that seeks to recognize before the law the legal status of these technological solutions without violating pre-existing state measures.
It should be mentioned that distributed accounting technologies (DLT) have been used in the legal system due to its reliable cryptography, transparency and immutability. In this way, they have become one of the possible best allies of public records and all types of data storage; a future that has seduced several territories of the United States and that seems to gain legal force in the state of Florida.
With a regulation of this type, business records and contracts stored in a blockchain electronically would be recognized by the State of Florida as legal information, according to the position of this bill. Also, signatures registered in a DLT platform would qualify as valid electronic signatures and smart contracts as legal electronic records:
The legal effect or enforceability of a contract can not be denied solely because: 1. An electronic record was used in the formation of the contract [and] 2. The contract contains an intelligent contract term.
Grant, J. Toledo
Legislator, Florida Congress
Regarding property rights, the bill highlights that if a company wishes to secure its commercial information at the interstate or international level in a blockchain, it does not incur any effect on private property.
A conclusion that allows us to discern that, if this law is approved, if a blockchain is used to ensure the validity of an information before the legal system of Florida, the government or institution involved should legally recognize such validity.
All of these proposals could turn the state of Florida into the newest of the North American territories in recognition of distributed accounting technologies in the legal records sector, a feat that has recently been achieved by the states of Arizona and Vermont. All these initiatives are part of an immense range of actions that the US government is taking to incorporate DLT solutions in the near future.