tl;dr
The House is considering the "Veterans Affairs Distributed Ledger Innovation Act of 2025" (H.R. 3455), introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, which mandates the VA Secretary to study how distributed ledger technology, including blockchain, can improve the VA's claims systems by enhancing transparency, trace...
The House is considering the "Veterans Affairs Distributed Ledger Innovation Act of 2025" (H.R. 3455), a proposal aimed at evaluating how distributed ledger technology, including blockchain, can improve the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) claims systems. Introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace on May 15, the bill successfully passed its initial review during a June 11 hearing before the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and now awaits a full House vote.
The legislation mandates the VA Secretary to conduct a thorough study on the potential for distributed ledgers to increase transparency, traceability, and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in benefits adjudication. This effort responds to longstanding issues cited by veterans involving slow processing, lack of transparency, and data inaccuracies that delay or misallocate payments.
Key provisions require the VA to explore how immutable, secure logs of each claim step could verify data, prevent false claims, and detect anomalies in benefit distribution. The department must engage with technologists, veterans’ service groups, and federal agencies already experimenting with distributed ledger technology to gather insights.
Within one year, the VA Secretary is to report to Congress on the feasibility, benefits, risks, and any recommended pilot programs or legal adjustments needed for technology deployment. The bill also clearly defines what qualifies as a distributed ledger to prevent confusion with traditional databases under the guise of new terminology.
If the House approves the proposal, it will advance to the Senate for further consideration. This bill aligns with other legislative efforts such as the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and the Deploying American Blockchains Act, reflecting growing Congressional interest in blockchain technology’s potential across government functions.