LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska is contemplating a bill that will allow state banks to offer cryptocurrency services.
The bill is pending review and was first introduced by Republican Mike Flood in January. With House Bill 649, Nebraska’s Financial Innovation Act will come to the fore, highlighting the importance of creating depository institutions for digital assets, Explica said.
The bill proposed by Nebraska senators will also seek to provide adequate charter, operation, supervision and regulation of digital asset services. Under the proposal, blockchain innovators have a harder time ensuring adequate banking services for digital currencies, but this bill aims to change that.
“The rapid innovation of blockchain technology and the digital ledger, including the increasing use of virtual currency and other digital assets, has resulted in many blockchain innovators and consumers being unable to access secure and reliable banking services, hampering the development of blockchain services and products in the market,” Flood said in a statement.
The Ultimate Goal
The ultimate goal of the bill is to enhance and foster digital innovation regarding blockchain and cryptocurrencies. The bill stressed that this was essential to foster growth in the state’s “ever-evolving financial sector.”
If approved, the initiative would make Nebraska the second state in the U.S. to establish a formal charter for cryptocurrency banks. Wyoming State was the first to do so, granting Avanti Bank and Trust, a banking charter, a banking license in the last quarter of 2020, Explica noted.