Michigan Bills Seek to Penalize 'False' Alteration of Blockchain Data

Blockchain regulatory measures are gaining more and more momentum as governments try to impose restrictions on this promising and disruptive technology. Earlier this week, Michigan saw the submission of two bills that deem the alteration of data on a blockchain a criminal offense, Cointelegraph reported.

House Bills 6257 and 6258 were introduced to Legiscan, a legislative tracking service, on June 12. To expand, HB 6257 mandates that if an individual tampers with, duplicates, or falsifies public records to cause injury or defraud another person will face felony charges punishable by no more than 14 years.

HB 6258, on the other hand, modifies an existing Michigan law to cover descriptions of the distributed ledger technology (DLT) in addition to cryptocurrency. In the bill, cryptocurrency is described as a “digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, and that operates independently of a central bank.”

While this may be good news to some, cryptocurrency experts are wary that regulators are hastily placing these legislations without exploring the areas that may prove problematic in the future. Angela Walch, an associate professor at St. Mary’s University School of Law, expressed concern regarding this adoption by different states.

Last month, Ohio introduced a bill seeking to alter the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act to integrate blockchain digital data and smart contracts as legitimate electronic records. Moreover, the amendment grants smart contracts the same legal weight as that possessed by traditional contracts.

One of the major reasons behind this quick integration of blockchain by the states is that they want to attract businesses operating in the crypto market since investors are pouring billions of dollars into the industry.

However, these states may be biting more than they can chew as the crypto market comes at a high cost, including the amount of energy it requires to conducts operations. This problem is already being experienced firsthand by Quebec in Canada and Chelan County in the U.S.