Last updated on 7 August 2026
What Can the UK Learn from America’s New Blockchain Bill?
The U.S. has just passed the Deploying American Blockchains Act, a landmark bill that could define how the country integrates blockchain into its digital infrastructure for years to come. It’s the first real attempt at a national blockchain strategy in the United States, and it raises a timely question for us in the UK:
Where do we stand?
Blockchain is no longer just about cryptocurrency. It’s about digital infrastructure, about supply chains, smart contracts, digital identity, and even voting systems. While the U.S. has taken a structured, strategic step, countries like China, Singapore, the UAE, and Vietnam are already well ahead in both adoption and investment. The UK doesn’t need to copy them, but we should be learning fast from what works.
What Does the U.S. Blockchain Bill Actually Do?
The Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025 (H.R.1664) places the U.S. Department of Commerce at the centre of blockchain innovation. Its core purpose is to help the U.S. lead globally in blockchain, distributed ledger technologies (DLT), and tokenisation, not through regulation, but through collaboration, coordination, and support.
Here are the key aspects:
- National Strategy Leadership: The Department of Commerce will advise the President on blockchain-related policy and innovation.
- Advisory Committees: It must set up multi-stakeholder advisory groups made up of industry leaders, cybersecurity experts, public agencies, and academics to shape best practices and frameworks.
- Best Practice Guidelines: These groups will create voluntary guidelines for deploying blockchain and tokenised applications in a safe, secure, and scalable way.
- Annual Reporting: The Department must report yearly to Congress, outlining progress and recommending further steps to maintain U.S. competitiveness.
Notably, the bill does not mandate adoption or enforce regulation. It doesn’t tell companies what to do, it gives them a framework for growth, encourages innovation, and offers federal support without stifling development.
In today’s divided political climate, it’s also important to note: the bill is bipartisan. It passed the House with ease and is now under review in the Senate. President Trump is expected to sign it into law.
Why It Matters: Infrastructure, Not Hype
Blockchain is often misunderstood. It’s not just trading crypto or minting NFTs. At its core, blockchain is a trust layer for the internet, a way to securely verify and share data without intermediaries.
Here’s what that enables:
- Digital IDs: Citizens could own and control their identity data, crucial for finance, healthcare, and even voting.
- Smart Contracts: Automatically executed agreements that reduce bureaucracy in areas like lending, legal filings, and insurance.
- Supply Chains: Real-time, tamper-proof tracking of goods, improving accountability and reducing fraud.
- Voting Systems: Transparent, secure, and verifiable elections.
The U.S. bill lays the groundwork for this kind of infrastructure, not by dictating specifics, but by encouraging careful rollout, with input from government, industry, and cybersecurity experts.
What Are Other Countries Doing?
While the U.S. takes a strategic leap, other countries are already sprinting:
- China is investing over $54 billion into its national blockchain infrastructure.
- Singapore has become a regulatory and technological hub, with clear rules and extensive government support.
- UAE is attracting global blockchain businesses through friendly tax policies and transparent licensing.
- Vietnam is quickly becoming a blockchain innovation hotspot in Southeast Asia. Its government backs research and education, while its Ministry of Science and Technology has partnered with Tomochain to explore supply chain and financial use cases. Unlike heavy-handed regulation, Vietnam’s approach favours pilot programs and public-private collaboration.
Each of these countries recognises that blockchain is not just a technological curiosity. It’s a foundation for the future of governance, commerce, and digital sovereignty.
They aren’t waiting. They’re testing, building, iterating, backed by clear signals from the top.
What Should the UK Do?
The UK already has what many countries lack: a world-class financial ecosystem, a strong legal tradition, and a deep fintech talent pool. But when it comes to blockchain, we are behind.
Here are three actionable steps the UK can take, learning from the U.S. and others, without simply copying them:
1. Build a National Blockchain Strategy
The UK currently has no unified blockchain vision. HMRC, the FCA, and DSIT all interpret blockchain differently, and often with conflicting signals.
We need:
- A central roadmap, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
- A national Blockchain Advisory Committee with representatives from finance, law, tech, cybersecurity, healthcare, and academia.
- Annual reporting to Parliament, ensuring progress and direction are transparent.
2. Promote Digital Identity and Smart Contract Infrastructure
We should prioritise:
- Decentralised digital identity (DID) systems to give individuals more control over their personal data.
- Smart contract rails for automating services like tax rebates, grant distribution, and business licensing.
A hybrid decentralisation model, blending blockchain with traditional systems, can allow innovation without losing public oversight.
3. Support Innovation Without Over-Regulating
The U.S. bill gets this right: create voluntary best-practice frameworks first, not restrictive laws. This:
- Encourages experimentation.
- Avoids chilling innovation.
- Sends the message: the UK welcomes blockchain builders.
With the U.S. pushing forward and the EU tightening regulations under MiCA, the UK has an opportunity to become a global sandbox for safe innovation.
Why Now?
The next generation of the internet, where assets, identity, contracts, and voting live on-chain, is forming fast. If we delay, we will be consumers, not creators.
The UK already has major institutions experimenting with blockchain. We’ve got fintech founders, world-class developers, and legal expertise. What we don’t have is a clear, government-led strategy that ties these threads together.
Without it, the future of blockchain in the UK will be scattered, uncoordinated, and dominated by regulatory ambiguity.
Final Thoughts
The Deploying American Blockchains Act isn’t perfect. It’s not a regulatory overhaul. It doesn’t force innovation. But it does what matters most: it signals intent, it sets direction, and it lays the foundation for infrastructure that lasts.
That’s what the UK needs, not hype, not panic, but purposeful action.
We don’t need to mimic America, but we should learn from their urgency, their clarity, and their cross-sector collaboration. A national strategy, flexible frameworks, and ongoing dialogue with innovators could put the UK back on the blockchain map.
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