North Carolina HB 1029: NC Digital Asset and Stablecoin Act.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 3
HOUSE BILL 1029
Committee Substitute Favorable 5/12/26
Committee Substitute #2 Favorable 6/9/26

Short Title: NC Digital Asset and Stablecoin Act. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
April 22, 2026
*H1029-v-3*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO ENACT THE NORTH CAROLINA DIGITAL ASSET AND STABLECOIN 2
ACT, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON 3
BLOCKCHAIN AND DIGITAL ASSETS. 4
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
6
PART I. DIGITAL ASSET FINANCIAL ACT 7
SECTION 1.(a) Chapter 53 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new 8
Article to read: 9
"Article 26. 10
"Digital Asset Financial Act. 11
"§ 53-441. Definitions. 12
The following definitions apply in this Article: 13
(1) Control. – A person has control if the person satisfies the requirements of 14
G.S. 25-12-105. 15
(2) Custody of a digital asset. – The legal relationship in which a financial 16
institution holds digital assets on behalf of a customer as bailee or trustee by 17
maintaining possession or control of the digital assets and any associated keys, 18
such that the digital assets remain the property of the customer, are not assets 19
or liabilities of the financial institution, and are not available to satisfy claims 20
of the financial institution's creditors. 21
(3) Customer. – A person for which a financial institution provides digital asset 22
services, including a digital asset account holder or a person on whose behalf 23
the financial institution acts in a fiduciary capacity. 24
(4) Digital asset. – A natively electronic asset that confers economic, proprietary, 25
or access rights and is recorded or stored in a blockchain, cryptographically 26
secured distributed ledger, or similar technology. A digital asset is personal 27
property. 28
(5) Digital asset custody services. – The safekeeping, administration, control, or 29
custody of digital assets on behalf of customers by a financial institution, 30
including any of the following: 31
a. Holding, controlling, or maintaining access to private keys necessary 32
to transfer, encumber, or otherwise exercise control over digital assets 33
belonging to or benefiting a customer. 34

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 1029-Third Edition
b. Maintaining digital assets in an omnibus, pooled, or segregated 1
account structure on behalf of one or more customers. 2
c. Exercising control over digital assets through any technical protocol, 3
smart contract, multi-signature arrangement, or contractual 4
mechanism that functionally restricts or directs the disposition of a 5
customer's digital assets. 6
(6) Digital asset services. – Any services involving digital assets offered by a 7
financial institution, including digital asset custody services, staking services, 8
and digital asset transaction services. 9
(7) Digital asset transaction services. – Services that facilitate the execution of 10
digital asset purchase or sale transactions on behalf of a customer. 11
(8) Exercise of an act of ownership interest. – Includes the following actions by a 12
customer relating to a digital asset account: 13
a. Conducting a transaction with digital assets in the account, including 14
buying or selling digital assets. 15
b. Depositing into or withdrawing from a digital asset account fiat 16
currency or other property, whether by a one-time transaction or a 17
recurring transaction. 18
c. Electronically accessing the digital asset account. 19
d. Conducting any activity with respect to another digital asset account 20
or any other property held with the same financial institution. 21
e. Taking any other action that reasonably demonstrates to the financial 22
institution that the customer knows that the digital asset account exists. 23
(9) Fiduciary capacity. – Acting with trust powers under State law to provide 24
digital asset services on behalf of a customer, including the discretionary 25
management or administration of digital assets subject to fiduciary duties. 26
(10) Financial institution. – A bank chartered under State law or a credit union 27
organized under State law. 28
(11) Keys. – A pair of cryptographic codes associated with a digital asset wallet, 29
consisting of a public key and a private key. The public key enables the receipt 30
of digital assets and the verification of digital signatures. The private key 31
enables the control, transfer, or management of digital assets within the wallet. 32
(12) Non-fiduciary capacity. – Providing digital asset custody services solely for 33
safekeeping, without discretionary authority to manage or transfer the assets 34
and with legal title and control of the assets remaining with the customer. 35
(13) Regulating authority. – Either of the following: 36
a. In the case of a State-chartered bank, the Commissioner of Banks. 37
b. In the case of a State-organized credit union, the Administrator of 38
Credit Unions. 39
(14) Slashing. – A penalty imposed by a blockchain