The growth and adoption of secure digital identity systems, including digital health status systems containing health records, could provide a uniform and reliable response to calls for health credential verification. In this white paper, Perkins Coie authors examine the three pillars essential to successfully developing and deploying these technologies.
As these systems are forced
On September 24, 2018, the French data protection authority, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), became the first data protection authority to issue written guidance on the intersection of the use of blockchain technology and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Due to the decentralized and permanent nature of the blockchain, there is an inherent tension between blockchain technology and the GDPR, particularly with respect to data subject rights and data storage limitation principles. Therefore, the CNIL guidance provides some welcome clarification on how it views these inherent tensions, although the CNIL left open certain important issues that will require deeper analysis and explanation in the future. The summary below has been updated to reflect the English translation of the CNIL guidance released on November 8, 2018. Our high-level takeaways based on the CNIL guidance are as follows:
The French data protection authority, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), became the first European data protection authority to issue written guidance on the intersection of the use of blockchain technology and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The CNIL guidance provides welcome clarification on how to tackle some of the inherent tensions between GDPR and blockchain, although the CNIL left open certain important issues that will require deeper analysis and explanation in the future.
Continue Reading French Data Protection Authority Issues Guidance on Application of Blockchain to the GDPR
The following summary is available in our sister blog, The Fintech Report.
Blockchain Week in Review: Week of September 24-28, 2018
U.S. Developments
Cryptocurrency and the Colorado Money Transmitter License Act
On September 20, 2018, following months of consultation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office, Colorado’s Division of Banking released interim guidance interpreting the Colorado Money Transmitters Act and determining whether it applies to transfers of cryptocurrency. If virtual currencies were to be subject to the regulation, facilitating transfers, and therefore cryptocurrency exchanges, would require a license. The Division of Banking determined that cryptocurrency transfers are not the subject of the Colorado Money Transmitters Act because cryptocurrency is not a legal tender. However, a license may be required if legal tender is involved in a cryptocurrency transfer; for example if fiat currency (i.e., legal tender) is bought or sold on an exchange, or if an exchange has the ability to transfer legal tender through a cryptocurrency. The step has been lauded by the virtual currency community for fostering the development and growth of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency exchanges.
Continue Reading Blockchain Week in Review – Week of September 24-28
We are pleased to release two in-depth white papers discussing cutting-edge legal and technology issues applicable to smart contracts and self-sovereign identity systems.
In the smart contracts white paper, Dax Hansen, Partner and Chair of the Blockchain and Digital Currency Industry Group, and Carla Reyes, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the