A Virginia lawmaker is pushing her state’s authorities to check how blockchain may form the way forward for native elections and commerce. On Jan.
A Virginia lawmaker is pushing her state’s authorities to check how blockchain may form the way forward for native elections and commerce.
On Jan. 8, Delegate Hala Ayala (D-51) supplied two payments to the Home of Delegates: the first calling for Virginia’s Division of Elections to research blockchain as a method to safe elections, and the second requesting that the Virginia Financial Growth Partnership (VEDP) analysis blockchain’s present and coming function within the state financial system.
Collectively, they comprise Ayala’s political drive to embrace – or not less than think about – integrating distributed ledger know-how in Virginian life.
They’re additionally a product of Ayala’s subject material experience. She was an info safety specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard for practically 20 years earlier than transitioning to a cybersecurity function on the Transportation Safety Administration in 2017, the place she continues to work.
“Proper now blockchain is a thriving know-how,” stated Ayala, who was appointed chair of the newly-formed Know-how and Innovation Subcommittee final week.
The payments define Ayala’s proposed roadmap to learning blockchain applied sciences. That is most clear in her election invoice. It is a response to the continued risk of election interference by “dangerous actors,” she stated.
But it surely’s additionally an in depth prescription to get forward of future assaults. With textual content imploring the Division of Elections to check present blockchain voting mechanisms, carry out a cost-benefit evaluation after which decide “whether or not and implement blockchain” in elections, the invoice presents a path to potential implementation.
“We now have to take blockchain very significantly and perceive it has the mechanics and mechanisms that might probably present us with safer election safety,” Ayala stated.
The financial system invoice, too, would nudge blockchain towards extra widespread implementation in Virginia, with two years of mandated research on the tech’s prevalence and function in intrastate commerce.
If handed, VEDP would produce a number of reviews outlining what the federal government ought to do to foster sector development. Ayala stated it might additionally tamp down on company overreach – preserving firms sincere.
Whereas Ayala hopes the reviews will make clear how the state can reap the benefits of this comparatively new know-how, she has not but dedicated to implementing blockchain instruments.
“We have to do our homework first to see how we will apply these applied sciences to their companies in addition to our elections,” she stated.
Finally, her economics invoice seeks to create “a statewide, complete, and coordinated technique referring to blockchain know-how,” the textual content reads.
“Know-how is at all times ever evolving, and we need to be sure that we’re on the forefront and main the way in which right here within the commonwealth,” Ayala stated.
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