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Committee hears bill to modernize Montana's Uniform Commercial Code, explicitly bars central bank digital currency
Summary
Lawmakers heard testimony on Senate Bill 426, which would update Montana's Uniform Commercial Code to account for electronic records, create rules for "controllable electronic records" such as cryptocurrencies, and expressly prevent a federal central bank digital currency from being treated as money under Montana's UCC.
Senate Bill 426, a wide-ranging update to Montana's Uniform Commercial Code, was the subject of a lengthy hearing before the House Business and Labor Committee focused on bringing state commercial law into the digital age.
Proponents said the bill replaces outdated paper-era terms, creates a new category of digital property called a controllable electronic record, and adds secured-lending rules when that property is used as collateral. "On page 2, line 15, it states nothing in the UCC may be construed to support, endorse, create, or implement a national digital currency," testified Jonathan Byington, a law professor and one of Montana's uniform law commissioners. "The definition in the UCC of money states money cannot be in electronic form." Byington and other proponents told…
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