Blockchain. Best evidence

• Author: Jason Tashea
• Pages: 22-23

Business of Law edited by

VICTOR LI

victor.li@americanbar.org

BLOCKCHAIN

Best Evidence

Some states are allowing people and companies to use blockchain as a

means of authenticating documents

BY JASON TASHEA

Photo illustration by Sara Wadford/Shutterstock

LLC ,” page 31, March 2019). This year,

the secretary of state started accepting

some insurance  lings through a block-

chain pilot. In South Burlington, the

local government is testing a program

that would track property transactions

on the blockchain. And the state isn’t

done. This spring, the Vermont Supreme

Court included blockchain in the state’s

rules of evidence for the  rst time.

“An important starting point for

legal recognition for blockchain is

making sure that the legal system will

recognize it as a valid means of [record

keeping], and that means admissibility

in court,” says Oliver Goodenough, a

professor at Vermont Law School.

Updated in March , the Vermont rules

now presume a digital record registered

on a blockchain is self-authenticating

and admissible when accompanied by a

written declaration by a quali ed per-

son. It also puts business records held

on the blockchain under the business re-

cords exception for hearsay. According

to Goodenough, providing this kind of

clarity can spur both technological and

economic development in the state.

In the legal context, blockchain—

best known as the backbone of the

cryptocurrency bitcoin—could become

the new way to keep, track and authen-

Vermont embraces blockchain

technology more than your

average state.

Looking to capture a

slice of the emerging technology market,

the state has enacted new laws and

procedures. In 2018, the state creat-

ed “blockchain-based LLCs,” a legal

structure that memorializes the liability

and  duciary duties unique to some

blockchain businesses (See “Blockchain

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ABA JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2019