Tennessee officially recognizes Blockchain based Smart contracts

The Governor of Tennessee has signed a bill that legally recognizes the data from blockchain technology and the smart contracts under state law.

As per public records, Governor Bill Haslam has signed the measure last Thursday completing a months process, that made Tennessee the last state in the United States to obtain such legislation. According to LegiScan data, the bill had traveled through the legislature since its presentation in January, passing both houses unanimously.

Excerpt from Bill reads as below,

As presented, it recognizes the legal authority to use blockchain technology and intelligent contracts in the conduct of electronic transactions, protects the property rights of certain information guaranteed by the technology based on Blockchain.

Furthermore, the law states that smart contracts have legal power and establishes that “no contract related to a transaction will be denied legal effect, validity or applicability only because that contract contains an intelligent contract term. “

The similar law was enforced in countries such as Florida and Nebraska in order to store technology-related legal information. However, the Florida bill “died on the calendar”, according to the documents submitted, while the Nebraska bill has not yet been voted by the full Assembly. It is still unclear if it will be raised and when the Nebraska legislature will move for a full vote.