E-Signature Laws Provide Legal Framework For Blockchain

Brian Casey, Co-Leader of Locke Lord's Regulatory and Transactional Insurance Practice Group and a Partner in the Firm’s Atlanta office, authored an article explaining that the existing legal framework of electronic signatures and records laws accommodates a broad base of blockchain transactions including in the insurance industry. Casey examines the ten key definitions of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) in understanding how they embrace blockchain transactions, user authentication, encryption, smart contracts and federal preemption risks.

Casey concludes: “Blockchain technology is likely here to stay and represents a new evolution in digital commerce. Fortunately, the drafters of UETA had the foresight to create a model electronic signatures and records law which, 19 years later and as-is, readily accommodates distributed ledger technology based transactions.”

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