Blockchain technology, often associated with cryptocurrencies, is a form of digital ledger for recording transactions
Promising “significant economic and workforce returns,” a group of state representatives plans to launch a new caucus focused on blockchain technology and its impact on public policy.
Reps. Josh Cutler of Duxbury and Kate Lipper-Garabedian of Melrose are seeking colleagues to join them on the House Blockchain Technology Caucus, which will convene its inaugural meeting on Monday, Nov. 8.
Blockchain technology, often associated with cryptocurrencies, is a form of digital ledger for recording transactions. In an email they sent to colleagues offering membership on the new caucus, Lipper-Garabedian and Cutler said the caucus would explore the role blockchain could play in state and local government as well as topics such as privacy risks, impacts on state revenues, virtual currencies, and oversight.
“The most known application of blockchain is cryptocurrency, which — among other things — can expand access to capital to the unbanked,” the lawmakers, both Democrats, wrote. “Blockchain technology can be employed in countless ways beyond cryptocurrency such as supply chain management, medical recordkeeping, identity management, and smart contracts. In government, it can establish highly secure methods for constituent interaction, increasing data accuracy and cybersecurity for Massachusetts residents.”
Pat Larkin and Jason Hoch of the Mass Tech Collaborative will join lawmakers at the caucus’s Nov. 8 kickoff meeting, where Cutler and Lipper-Garabedian said attendees will discuss “how we might leverage our natural resources — like our access to talent thanks to our prestigious higher education ecosystem and our critical mass of industries using blockchain technology (including financial services and biotech) – to catch up to and pull past states that are moving more quickly to date.”
Legislators over the years have embraced the formation of caucuses to focus on specific issues. The caucuses are in addition to the array of legislative committees, special commissions and working groups that legislators use to study public policies.
Lipper-Garabedian has also proposed legislation (H 126) that would stand up a special commission to study blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, focusing partly on its potential benefits for state and local government. The Legislature’s Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity Committee included the legislation on the agenda for an Oct. 27 hearing, but has not acted on it.
Under House rules, the chamber’s Rules Committee is supposed to maintain a list of registered legislative member organizations and non-party caucuses. Committee Chair Rep. William Galvin did not respond to News Service requests for that list.
