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United States Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Resources

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This is a guest post by Louis Myers, the Law Library’s Librarian-in-Residence.

Recent economic and geopolitical events have caused an increase in searches and requests for information about cryptocurrency regulation and legislation. The Law Library of Congress has compiled and maintained reports with information and resources on cryptocurrency and block chain for international jurisdictions, including Regulation of Cryptocurrency Around the World and Regulatory Approaches to Cryptoassets. Today, we bring you an introductory guide to cryptocurrency regulations and resources in the United States. Due to the emergent nature of regulation and legislation on cryptocurrency, we have focused more heavily on resources that are frequently updated while still including traditional secondary sources like law review articles, manuscripts, and treatises.

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Detroit Publishing Co., Technology Library, the New York Public Library, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/det.4a24348

Federal Law Resources

Much of the regulatory activity at the federal level regarding cryptocurrency has been overseen by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Other agencies within the federal government that have engaged in, or are likely to engage in, the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the future include:

Agencies will generally publish guidance on their websites, but you can also actively track regulatory activity by using the Federal Register. The Law Library of Congress has created a helpful guide on federal regulations that may be useful when researching this topic.

State Law Resources

An excellent resource for state level legislation is available through the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). The NCSL has compiled an annotated guide to state cryptocurrency legislation for the years 2014-2018, and an annotated guide to state blockchain legislation for the years 2015-2019. Although the guides have not been updated in 2020, you may wish to periodically check back for updates. For both pages, click links under “Additional Resources” to access prior years.

You may also wish to perform research on a state-by-state basis. Each state legislature’s website has different features, but basic search terms will work when looking for state legislation on their databases. You can find links to state legislative websites using the Law Library of Congress’s Guide to Law Online.

Congressional Research Service Reports

Law Review Articles

Stanford University publishes the Journal of Blockchain Law & Policy, which is dedicated to blockchain technology and the law.

Manuscripts and Print Resources

Your local library may have access to online editions of these books, or you may be able to utilize interlibrary loan to borrow them. To find these titles at a nearby library, you can also look for them on WorldCat.

Treatise

Free Resources

Please be advised that neither the authors nor the Law Library of Congress specifically endorse any of the following news outlets, but we have chosen to highlight a few freely-available online resources.

  • CoinTelegraph.com. This website provides frequent updates on new developments concerning cryptocurrencies. Specifically, this page focuses on regulations in both foreign and domestic jurisdictions.
  • CoinDesk.com. This website was one of the first websites to compile cryptocurrency news. This page links to the latest developments in policy and regulation.

Subscription Services

You may find you have access to subscription databases through your employer or through your local law library. The Law Library of Congress has public access accounts available in our Reading Room. During the ongoing closure due to COVID-19, we recommend that DC-based researchers look into making an appointment with our temporary On-Site Electronic Resource Center, where most of the Library of Congress’s subscription databases can be accessed, with the exception of Westlaw and Bloomberg Law.

We hope you find these resources helpful in your research, and please feel free to reach out to us via Ask-a-Librarian if you have specific questions about cryptocurrency or blockchain research.

Comments

  1. thanks for the information, it is greatly appreciated !

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