STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2274

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2757

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2757 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DIGITAL ASSET CHARTERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a digital asset charter program for licensing, regulating, and overseeing digital asset companies and digital asset business activities within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Division of Financial Institutions, beginning January 1, 2027;

(2) Authorize companies that participated in the Hawaii Digital Currency Innovation Lab to temporarily continue digital asset business activities without a charter in certain circumstances; and

(3) Appropriate funds.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Pūpūkahi Tech Foundation, USD Hawaiʻi, Inoa, Trading Aloha Solutions LLC, and two individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Division of Financial Institutions of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

Your Committees find that although digital assets are becoming more mainstream and embedded in global financial structures, they are currently unregulated in the State. This measure would provide regulatory clarity to support economic growth for the State's digital asset industry, while simultaneously providing safeguards and transparency for consumers.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2757, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2757, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Ways and Means and Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Labor and Technology,

________________________________ BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair