Digital Rights and Ownership
We advocate for decentralized technologies that enable individuals to have true ownership and control of their digital data and assets. By empowering people to manage their own privacy and information, these technologies foster secure, seamless interactions across the digital economy.
Ownership and privacy rights people take for granted in the physical world don’t carry over into the digital world. Digital goods, such as the music you stream, the tickets you buy, and the accounts you rely on daily, sit on centralized servers controlled by large tech companies, leaving consumers with little control over their data, content, or access rights.
Blockchain technology offers a path forward, but outdated regulations are standing in the way. The Digital Chamber works with Congress and regulators to update policy frameworks so these technologies can be used to their fullest potential, with appropriate consumer protections for the digital age.
The Policy Issues
NFTs
We are working to protect consumer-use NFTs from federal securities laws by advocating for legislative in Congress and regulatory clarity from the SEC. Our goal is to ensure that NFTs—from music and art, to video game items, to tickets and access passes, and beyond—are not burdened by unnecessary and inappropriate financial regulations.
We also work to ensure consumer protection laws are updated to address these new technologies to ensure there are no unnecessary barriers preventing people from accessing these technological benefits while still maintaining consumer protections in a digital age. The Digital Chamber advocates for new policies which take into account not only any new risks introduced by blockchain technologies into existing consumer goods and services, but also the risks in how consumers currently buy and sell digital goods and services which are mitigated or eliminated through the technologies.
Wallets
The internet today runs on a model where personal data is collected, sold, and used without much user control or awareness. Instead, users should be able to decide who they share data with, under what circumstances, and even if data sharing is necessary.
Self-hosted wallets are key to this digital sovereignty, but recent lawsuits are jeopardizing whether the developers of open-source wallet software must follow strict financial compliance regulations. To protect both developers and internet users, legislation and legal clarity are needed to defend privacy, innovation, and individual control over digital assets.
Gaming and the Metaverse
The Metaverse is the final digital frontier, but not all Metaverse platforms are treated equally. Blockchain-based platforms are powerful places of community, entertainment, commerce, and culture, but because the tokens powering them are considered securities by the SEC, investors and builders are hesitant to venture further into these digital worlds.
Player characters, gaming tokens, and even in-game weapons and armor are under fire from the SEC by nature of being secured by blockchains. To fully realize the economic and cultural potential of these digital worlds, Congress must clarify that fungible and non-fungible tokens are not financial instruments solely because they use blockchain technology.
Recent Updates
Our Impact
We’ve created an impact by focusing on creating a thriving NFT ecosystem that benefits artists, consumers, and the economy.
Leading the Policy Conversation
Working alongside congressional and industry stakeholders, we have spearheaded efforts to exempt certain NFTs from federal securities laws, driving the legislative debate and shaping how policymakers understand these technologies.
Defending Artists and Brands
We assembled a team to submit an amicus brief in the Hermés v. Rothschild, standing up for artists’ and brands’ rights to participate in the metaverse. We have been at the forefront of defining NFTs as consumer products, providing the regulatory clarity that artists and platforms need to thrive.
Bridging the Public and Private Sectors
We successfully hosted a landmark roundtable with the U.S. Treasury and NFT industry leaders to tackle illicit finance risks head-on, demonstrating our commitment to proactive, solutions-oriented engagement that builds a safer and more credible digital asset ecosystem.