Nevada Cryptocurrency Laws
Regulation of Digital Currencies: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoins, Blockchain Technology
Proposed Laws & Regulations
Nevada’s Money Transmitter Act does not explicitly include “virtual currencies” or “monetary value” and the State’s Department of Business and Industry has not published guidance on virtual currency regulations.
Two bills adopted in June 2019 seeking to define “virtual currency” in different existing laws. A.B. 15 adds provisions governing crimes related to certain financial transactions to include “virtual currency” in the definition of a monetary instrument, which would make it unlawful for a person to conduct a financial transaction using virtual currency if it is derived from any unlawful activity.
Enacted Laws & Regulations
Nevada became the first state to ban local governments from taxing blockchain use when it enacted Senate Bill No. 398, which established various provisions relating to the use of blockchain technology. Signed in June of 2017, SB 398 defines blockchain as “an electronic record, transaction, or piece of data which is uniformly ordered, redundantly maintained or processed by multiple computers, and validated by the use of cryptography.” With respect to the collection of sales and use tax, state law, N.R.S. 372.764-54 asserts that a person is a “marketplace facilitator” if that person provides, “a virtual currency that buyers are allowed or required to use to purchase tangible personal property.”
Nevada’s 162
Signed by governor 6/7/19, Chapter 474
Relates to electronic transactions; includes a public blockchain as a type of electronic record for the purposes of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act; provides that a person who uses a public blockchain to secure information does not relinquish any right of ownership related to that information; requires a governmental agency to accept a certified copy of a record in electronic form under certain circumstances; authorizes the secretary of state to adopt regulations specifying attributes required for a certified copy of a record in electronic form; prohibits a local government from taxing or imposing restrictions upon the use of a public blockchain; and provides other matters properly relating thereto.
Nevada’s 163
Signed by governor 6/7/19, Chapter 475
Relates to business entities; revises the definition of “electronic transmission” as it relates to certain communications of certain business entities to include the use of a blockchain or public blockchain; authorizes certain business entities to store certain records on a blockchain or public blockchain; revises provisions authorizing the secretary of state to adopt regulations to define certain terms to allow certain business entities to carry out their powers and duties using the most recent technology available to include the use of blockchains or public blockchains; and provides other matters properly relating thereto. Nevada’s 488Relates to technology; creates the Emerging Technologies Task Force within the Department of Business and Industry; prescribes the membership of the Task Force; sets forth the powers and duties of the Task Force; authorizes the director of the Department of Business and Industry to create an Opportunity Center for Emerging Technology Businesses as part of the Office of Business Finance and Planning; and provides other matters properly relating thereto.
Laws & Regulations Not Passed
Senate Bill 195 would have established a Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act and the Uniform Supplemental Commercial Law for the Uniform Regulation of Virtual-Currency Businesses Act, however, it failed to pass in June of 2019.
Blockchain Information & Resources:
- Anti-Collusion | What Is Obfuscation?
- Blockchain Attacks: Is No One Safe in the World of Cryptocurrencies?
- Blockchain Technology Explained: What is Blockchain and How Does It Work?
- Digital Currency Transmission Laws and Regulations by State
- Hard and Soft Forks: A Detailed and Simplified Explanation of How Blockchains Evolved
- Legal Issues around Cryptocurrency
- Merkle Trees
- Permissioned and Permissionless Blockchains
See More Information on Blockchain
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