Oklahoma Lawmaker Nathan Dahm Sponsors Bill 1430

On Jan. 15 an Oklahoma Lawmaker by the name of Senator Nathan Dahm introduced Senate Bill 1430. The goal of the bill is to facilitate the creation of a state-chartered financial institution focused solely on digital assets. The newly created crypto depository would be exclusively for government use. Additionally, the depositary would take up the responsibility of providing financial and technical services to government offices utilizing digital assets.

According to recent reports, Senator Nathan Dahm sponsored the bill in a bid to get further blockchain integration into the government. Importantly, the bill will see a Feb. 3 first reading. Notably, this is the latest of three crypto-related bills Senator Dahm has brought forth over the last year.

Oklahoma Has Some Pro-Blockchain Officials

Senator Dahm has been one of the most active politicians in the space. His vocal support for the creation of a functioning and enforceable regulatory framework for tokenized securities received heavy media coverage throughout 2019. For example, on Jan. 25, 2019, he introduced Senate Bill 843. The bill borrowed many aspects from HB 70 that was passed by the Wyoming legislature last year. The overall goal of the new legislation is to help differentiate between open blockchain cryptocurrency transactions and tokenized securities. Unfortunately, there has been no further action taken on this bill.

Nathan Dahm via Twitter – Oklahoma

Additionally, Dahm co-authored Senate Bill 700. This bill focuses on digital signatures and their use within the digital economy moving forward. In essence, the bill modifies the definition of an electronic record and electronic signature to fit the coming digitization of the economy.

Senate Bill 1430 – Oklahoma

While both of these bills could have far-reaching ramifications for crypto use within the state, his latest venture is by far his most advantageous. Senate Bill 1430 Dahm's authorizes the State Banking Department and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to work together to research, formulate and develop a new-age financial institution. This state-chartered digital asset bank is to function as Oklahoma's primary central depository for all virtual currencies used by agencies within the state.

The new financial institution must meet some stringent requirements before its official opening. For one, the bank must integrate into existing banking and financial institution regulations. Also, the institution must encompass the highest level of expertise. In this way, the firm may provide valuable financial and technical services to blockchain and virtual currency innovators and developers moving forward.

Oklahoma – A Blockchain Haven?

These latest development highlight the unbalanced approach by state officials towards blockchain technology. Oklahoma continues to lead the pack in terms of legislation aimed at integrating this game-changing technology. This latest bill should help safely grow this innovative technology within the state.

The data gathered to date surrounding the market will help in the development of next-generation financial products in the future. As it stands today, the plans and implementation strategy submission must occur by July 1 in order for the bill to become effective by Nov. 1, 2020.

Oklahoma – A Step Ahead of the Pack

The decision of lawmakers such as Dahm to continually push for more blockchain adoption is a smart maneuver. The state could see an unprecedented upside if it becomes one of the first to provide a strong regulatory framework to the blockchain space. For now, lawmakers like Dahm continue to push for stronger regulations to promote the adoption of this revolutionary technology.