The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business will hold a hearing focused on blockchain’s impact on small businesses.
The hearing titled – “Building Blocks of Change: The Benefits of Blockchain Technology for Small Businesses”, will be held on Wednesday March 4 under the leadership of Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY).
The annoucement as published on the committee website reads:
Blockchain is a powerful new technology that creates a distributed digital ledger—a database—that allows multiple parties to engage in secure, trusted transactions with one another without an intermediary. While blockchain is most associated with cryptocurrency like bitcoin, it has many other uses, including tracking goods in global supply chains or enabling peer-to-peer transactions between connected devices.
This hearing will explore how innovators and entrepreneurs are using blockchain technology to help small businesses boost productivity, increase security, open new markets, and change the way business is done.
Speaking on Wednesday’s hearing, the Chairwoman said:
“It is vital that congress keep pace with the evolving needs of our country’s innovative small businesses. Entrepreneurs across the nation have already begun to utilize blockchain to enhance their security, spread their products to new markets, and run their daily operations…Congress must have a clear understanding of how blockchain is utilized and how it can help small businesses moving forward.”
The hearing will feature a number of prominent witnesses involved with the blockchain industry.
Watch the blockchain hearing live here
This is not the first time the US Congress is paying attention to crypto and blockchain technology in terms of use cases and legislation.
Notably, small business chairwoman Velázquez was in attendance at the Facbook Libra coin hearing by the US financial services committee last year, where she urged the committee “not to stifle innovation” despite the scrutiny of the project.
The US government seems to be drawing closer to accepting blockchain and cryptocurrency at both federal and state levels, with a number of committees championing a cause to regulate rather than bottleneck the emerging industry.
