Illinois Senator Robert Peters Introduced The Senate Bill

The Illinois Senate Bill

Hinkes noted in his tweet that “Illinois Senate Bill SB1887 would drive out blockchain node operators, miners, and validators, waste judicial resources, and confuse existing law in a quixotic attempt to protect Illinois consumers.”

In the twitter thread, Hinkes examines the bill and calls it “the mess.” He said “as a preface, this is a stunning reverse course for a state that was previously pro-innovation. Instead we now get possibly the most unworkable state law related to crypto and blockchain I’ve ever seen.” He wrote about the shocking turn of events for the tech community in illinois. 

Hinkes added that the bill focuses on consumer protection that is good. But the manner in which it seeks “to protect consumers is to require node operators, miners & validators to do impossible things, or things that create for themselves new criminal & civil liability at pain of fines or fees.”

The Act would allow a court, upon receipt of an order from the Attorney General or State’s Attorney. It would order any appropriate blockchain transaction for digital property or for the execution of a smart contract. It “requires a blockchain network that processes a blockchain transaction originating in this state at any time after the effective date of this Act.”

Hinkes mentioned that “any node operator, miner or validator can be charged with complying with a court order to transact on a blockchain if they have mined or updated their ledger to include a transaction originating in Illinois.”

The bill states any blockchain miners and validators “subject to fines of $5k-10k per day.” Hinkes wrote as “if you mine /validate or run a node ANYWHERE may be subject to $10k/day fines if you don’t do something that’s generally impossible or could be a crime or civil violation of law. And it doesn’t matter that compliance is impossible/would likely be illegal.”

The lawyer also wrote that “Illinois is going to force you to re-write your blockchain- specifically by including smart contract code capable of responding to court orders. And if you don’t, you can be sued. 

Additionally, “if you don’t modify your blockchain smart contract to accept court orders, the plaintiff’s remedy will be for you to return all digital property/value you have received and payment of attorney’s fees and costs.”

It must be noted that in case if this bill ever passed then it would take effect 30 days after becoming law.

Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast and believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning.

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