U.S. House adds two blockchain amendments to its annual defense spending bill

The U.S. House of Representatives added two blockchain-related amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Congress's annual defense spending bill, which it passed on Tuesday.

Both amendments were introduced by U.S. Representative Darren Soto of Florida. One adds distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to the definition of so-called emerging technologies, meaning blockchain would be included in future assessments from the newly formed Steering Committee on Emerging Technology and Security Needs. 

The other amendment calls on the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering to complete a study on the potential of distributed ledger technology for defense purposes and adds a requirement to report the key findings in the study to Congress.

Soto is a blockchain technology advocate and co-chair of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, which has championed other crypto-related budget items and legislation including the Token Taxonomy Act and Digital Taxonomy Act.

The final version of the NDAA will be a product of negotiations between the House and the Senate and will require the president's signature before becoming law.