"American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: On-Chain Tools for an Off-Chain World"

House Subcommittee on Commodity Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development

2025-04-09

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Source: Congress.gov

Summary

This hearing focused on American innovation in digital assets and the future of blockchain technology, specifically its practical applications in an "off-chain world." The discussion highlighted the bipartisan commitment to developing a clear regulatory framework to foster innovation and ensure American leadership in this evolving sector, while also addressing concerns about regulatory uncertainty and its impact on entrepreneurs . Witnesses presented various real-world use cases, emphasizing how blockchain can solve problems in industries like agriculture and legal compliance .

Themes

American Leadership and Innovation in Digital Assets

The committee stressed the importance of the United States maintaining its leadership in digital asset policy and innovation [ 00:14:11 ]

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[ 00:14:21 ]

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. Members expressed concern that the U.S. has lagged behind other countries in updating policies, threatening its role in this area . The goal is to foster an environment of investment and innovation that benefits the entire country, ensuring American companies can build and thrive domestically [ 01:24:01 ]

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Regulatory Clarity and Market Structure Legislation

There was strong bipartisan consensus on the urgent need for comprehensive, bipartisan market structure legislation to provide legal certainty for digital asset issuers and users . The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT 21) was cited as a significant step, having passed the House with substantial bipartisan support [ 00:12:30 ]

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[ 00:12:35 ]

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. Witnesses noted that a lack of clear regulatory regimes risks reducing innovation and investment in the U.S., particularly due to conflicting stances between agencies like the SEC and CFTC . It was suggested that legislation should promote innovation, classify assets clearly, and avoid stifling the intended use of digital assets within networks .

Real-World Applications of Blockchain Technology

Several tangible applications of blockchain were presented, illustrating its potential beyond financial products .

  • CattleProof Verified LLC uses blockchain to bring integrity and transparency to livestock markets, offering verifiable data for provenance, fractional ownership, collateralization, and faster, more compliant payments . This enables ranchers to receive premiums for their products and modernizes traditional agricultural practices .
  • GeoNet Foundation leverages blockchain to improve the reliability and reduce the cost of precision GPS for agriculture, enabling centimeter-accurate steering for farm equipment and reducing input costs [ 00:33:41-00:33:59 ]

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    . This approach, known as Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DeepEN), has rapidly built the world's largest RTK network without significant capital investment [ 00:35:12 ]

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    [ 00:35:14 ]

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    [ 01:35:47-01:35:51 ]

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  • Blueprint utilizes AI and blockchain to reinvent regulatory, market, and consumer disclosures, reducing compliance costs and improving clarity for companies and governments worldwide .

Impact on Rural Development and Bridging the Digital Divide

Blockchain technology was recognized for its potential to empower rural America, improve public services, and unlock economic opportunity [ 00:15:47 ]

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. Witnesses highlighted that while rural broadband infrastructure is crucial, blockchain applications can make investment in these areas more attractive by providing real-world use cases . DeepEN networks, for example, offer a cost-effective way to extend essential services to rural communities [ 01:28:06 ]

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Tone of the Meeting

The meeting maintained a positive, cooperative, and bipartisan tone, with members and witnesses expressing enthusiasm for the potential of blockchain technology [ 00:10:42 ] [ 00:11:53 ]

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. Speakers often reiterated the importance of working together to find solutions, emphasizing learning and constructive dialogue over partisan division [ 00:11:48 ]

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. There was a shared forward-looking perspective on how to leverage digital assets for national benefit and ensure American leadership in innovation [ 01:24:01 ]

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Participants

Transcript

The committee will come to order.  Welcome, and thanks for joining this hearing.  It's entitled, American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets, On-Chain Tools for an Off-Chain World.  After brief opening remarks, members will receive testimony from our excellent witnesses today, and then the hearing will be open to question.   open to questions.  In consultation with the ranking member and pursuant to Rule 11E, I want to make members of the subcommittee aware that other members of the full committee may join us today.   I'm pretty excited.  This is our first hearing of this subcommittee, Commodity, Markets, Digital Assets, and Rural Development.  And I'm particularly excited about the gentleman sitting to my right.  Don Davis is a great human being, a great member of Congress.  We worked together on this digital asset stuff in the last Congress.  I enjoyed working with Yadira, and I'm going to enjoy working with Don as well.   Mr. Davis isn't the only one in a new role.  Half of this subcommittee are new members to the subcommittee, so we're going to be doing a lot of learning together.  And I'm sure I speak for Don as well in that we're excited to have a new crop of people, excited to make sure that these commodity markets and real development and crypto issues work well.   And, of course, a portion of our work, an important portion, is digital assets, and that's what today's hearing is on.  But it's certainly not the only thing we deal with in this committee.  Of course, rural development, rural energy, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, legislation to reauthorize the CFTC, this is all going to be a part of the work that we're going to do together.   In the digital asset space, though, it was last Congress that the full committee did an extraordinary job working in a bipartisan way and with the folks at Financial Services to craft and then pass the Bipartisan Comprehensive Market Structures Bill.   the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, FIT 21.  It passed the House floor by 279 to 136.
I think Don has those numbers tattooed on his upper arm.  He'll show you, if you ask pretty please, nicely.  And we're gonna pick up right where we left off.   Earlier today, Chairman Stiles' Digital Assets Subcommittee on the Financial Services side held their first hearing on market structure.  That was not a coincidence.  Just like last Congress, everything we do, we're going to be doing in tandem and working together.  We are united and committed to advancing comprehensive, bipartisan market structure legislation and getting it to the President's desk.   Our legislation will bring legal certainty to issuers and to users of digital assets.  There will be clear customer protections to buyers of digital assets.  And it's going to foster an environment of investment and innovation, and that's going to benefit the whole country.  Today, we're going to hear from entrepreneurs who are using blockchain and digital assets to solve real-world problems.   Again, we get back to the hearing of, or the title of this hearing, on-chain tools for an off-chain world.  Some of these concepts, some of these solutions are really fun.  And in that way, it's not about crypto.  It's about cattle guys trying to figure out how to make it easier and more profitable for ranchers to market their cattle.   It's about a gifted engineer trying to make a less expensive, more robust, more precise GPS system for precision agriculture and other location-based systems.  It's about a law professor who's building automated systems to help developers comply with legal disclosures in a way that consumers can actually understand.   Our work on market structure legislation is ultimately about how to ensure that those ranchers, those engineers, those professors, and many, many others can use digital tools to bring their ideas to life and to power the American dream.   We have a terrific panel of witnesses to help us understand that work and the legal landmines which can disturb and slow innovation.
I'm looking forward to today's hearing and our work over the next few months and, of course, ultimately punching FIT 21 across into the end zone and onto the President's desk.  With that, I want to welcome the distinguished and recognize the distinguished ranking member, the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Davis, for any opening remarks he'd like to give.
Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and look forward to continue service with you on this committee.  Thank you so much for not only your service to our country, but in particular for the work that we've done.   and I believe we'll continue to do on this committee.  And to all of the members and to our witnesses, thank you for being with us today.  I would like to, in particular, to highlight and just thank our ranking member, as well as our chair, for their leadership in giving us guidance for the work before us in the 119th Congress.   Just this past month, I had the privilege of participating in the Digital Chamber's D.C.  Blockchain Summit.  We came together to reinforce what I think is a simple but powerful idea, and that is digital asset policy remains vital for American innovation.

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