![\"Sen.](\"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/SenFlood_inline-200x300.jpg\")
Flood said the bill would provide two pathways to managing digital currency: a state-chartered bank could create a digital asset division or a digital asset depository could be created under a new charter. Both would be regulated by the state Department of Banking and Finance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about technology that is transforming the way business is done,\u201d Flood said, adding that Nebraska would be second only to Wyoming in creating a state regulatory system for digital assets.<\/p>\n
Among other provisions, the bill would:
\n\u2022 establish procedures for incorporation, operation, liquidation and dissolution of digital asset depository institutions;
\n\u2022 prohibit digital depository institutions from taking cash deposits or lending cash;
\n\u2022 require a digital depository\u2019s headquarters and office of the chief executive officer to be established in Nebraska;
\n\u2022 allow digital depositories to be held by a bank holding company and allow existing bank investment in such a depository;
\n\u2022 require notice to customers that accounts are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation if applicable;
\n\u2022 require a surety bond or pledged investments and specified private insurance; and
\n\u2022 authorize digital depositories to obtain federal deposit insurance if available.<\/p>\n
Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg, chairperson of the Banking, Commerce and Insurance Committee, said national banks already manage digital assets but state banks in Nebraska currently cannot. He said LB649 was the result of extensive negotiations with stakeholders in the banking community and would provide ample consumer protections.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also opens the door to opportunities for our existing state-chartered financial institutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A committee amendment, adopted 39-1, would:
\n\u2022 establish a minimum capital requirement of $10 million;
\n\u2022 allow a digital asset depository to use the term \u201cbank\u201d in its name only if it is clear that the entity is managing digital assets;
\n\u2022 allow digital depositories to apply for membership in the Federal Reserve Bank system; and
\n\u2022 authorize the director of the Department of Banking and Finance and the governor to set the assessment of digital depositories to cover administration costs.<\/p>\n
Bennington Sen. Wendy DeBoer supported LB649, saying it would establish a strong regulatory framework that would provide stable cryptocurrencies. The bill also would create good, high-tech jobs, she said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha said no asset has grown faster over the past 10 years than cryptocurrency. LB649 would open Nebraska to digital currency while providing safeguards, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be among those in front of these changes,\u201d Vargas said.<\/p>\n
Flood offered an amendment that would transfer $712,489 from the state\u2019s Securities Act Cash Fund to the Financial Institution Assessment Fund by Oct. 30, 2021, and $397,089 by Oct. 30, 2022, to cover regulatory start-up costs.<\/p>\n
Senators adopted the amendment on a 32-1 vote and advanced LB649 to select file 39-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bill that would establish a state-level regulatory system for digital assets \u2014 including cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin \u2014 advanced from general file May 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[268],"class_list":["post-30310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking-commerce-and-insurance","tag-sen-michael-flood"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/LB649Flood5-10-21a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30310"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30314,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30310\/revisions\/30314"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}