Bill: Draft Proof of Balance Act

[EmeraldGuuy]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
​

---

A BILL TO
Make Banks Prove Every Balance



​

---

The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:​

PART I - PRELIMINARIES

1 - Short Title and Enactment
(1) This Act may be cited as the "Proof of Balance Act" or the "PBA".
(2) This Act shall be enacted starting the next calendar month proceeding the President's assent.
(3) This Act has been authored by Muggy21 and reviewed by Secretary of Commerce edwardcul1en.
(4) This Act has been sponsored by Speaker of the House EmeraldGuuy.
(5) This Act has been co-sponsored by [co sponsor].
(6) This Act amends the following acts:

(a) Criminal Code Act

2 - Reasons and Intent
(1) A depositor should not have to rely only on a bank's own database to prove what they are owed.
(2) If a bank is dissolved, seized, closed, or unreachable, depositors need a record of their balances that survives without the bank's database, backups, or staff.
(3) An encrypted balance record placed in the detail of an automatic transaction is stored where the bank cannot later edit it.

3 - Definitions
(1) For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:

a. Bank means any Commercial Bank or other Financial Institution that holds deposits, recognised by the Department of Commerce.​

b. DOC means the Department of Commerce.​

c. Depositor means a person who holds a positive balance with a Bank.​

d. Detail Field means the memo attached to a transaction in the Server-Sponsored TreasuryAPI Transaction History.​

e. Transaction History means the platform's own record of transactions, which the Bank cannot edit or delete.​

f. Balance Note means an encrypted record, placed in the Detail Field of an automatic payment from a Bank to a Depositor, via the TreasuryAPI, stating the latest known balance of each of the Depositor's accounts and the moment each was recorded.​

g. Note Key means the secret key used to encrypt and authenticate Balance Notes.​

h. Key ID means a public identifier for a Note Key that does not reveal the key.​

i. Decoder means the program described in section 7.​

j. Linked Account means the platform account a Depositor has linked to their bank account to receive Balance Notes.​

PART II - TERMS

4 - Duty to Issue Balance Notes
(1) A Bank must send each Depositor a Balance Note at least every 7 days while they hold a positive balance.
(2) A Balance Note must be sent to the Depositor's Linked Account as an automatic payment of 0.01, with the note in the Detail Field.
(3) A Bank shall not be required to send a Balance Note to a Depositor whose accounts are all empty.
(4) A Balance Note too long for one Detail Field must be split into numbered parts that can be read in order.

5 - Form and Security
(1) A Balance Note must state, for every account the Depositor holds, the latest known balance and the moment it was recorded.
(2) A Balance Note must be encrypted with an HMAC-SHA256 keystream and authenticated by encrypt-then-MAC, with an authentication tag of at least 8 bytes.
(3) Every Balance Note must use a fresh random nonce.
(4) A Balance Note altered in any way must fail authentication and not decode.
(5) The Detail Field may contain only letters and digits, and must not reveal any balance, account number, or personal financial detail to anyone without the Note Key.
(6) A Bank must not edit or delete a Balance Note after it is issued.

6 - The Note Key
(1) A Bank must publish the Key ID of every Note Key in current or past use.
(2) A Bank must give the Note Key to the DOC before issuing its first Balance Note, and again within 3 days of any change of key.
(3) A Bank must give the Note Key to any Depositor it covers, on request and at no charge.
(4) A Depositor may use the Note Key to read Balance Notes addressed to them, and may share it with the DOC or a court.
(5) A Bank that changes its Note Key must keep every earlier key so that older Balance Notes remain readable.

7 - The Decoder
(1) A Bank must publish a Decoder as a single standard-library Python file that needs no other software and no access to the Bank's database or systems.
(2) The Decoder must report, for each Balance Note, the account balances and the moment each was recorded, or report that the note failed authentication.
(3) A Bank must keep every version of the Decoder available.

8 - Dissolution, Seizure and Closure
(1) If a Bank is dissolved, seized, or closed, or its operators are unreachable, the DOC may use the Note Key for any lawful purpose under any lawful authority.
(2) The DOC must then run the Decoder over the Transaction History to produce, for every Depositor, the latest known balance of every account and the moment it was recorded.
(3) The DOC may use these records as evidence of what each Depositor is owed, and to pay Depositors, subject to applicable and controlling law.
(4) These records are accurate as of the last Balance Note. A Depositor may still prove a later balance by other evidence.

9 - Depositors
(1) A Depositor must keep a Linked Account. If they unlink it, the Bank may stop issuing Balance Notes and suspend withdrawals until it is linked again.
(2) A Depositor cannot opt out of Balance Notes while holding a balance.
(3) A Depositor who cannot decode a Balance Note may contact the Bank, which must help them within 7 days.

10 - Implementation
(1) Every Bank must comply with this Act within 90 days of this Act being enacted.
(2) Within that period, a Bank must have sent a Balance Note to every Depositor, given the Note Key to the DOC, and published the Key ID and the Decoder.

PART III - AMENDMENTS

(1) Part VII of the Criminal Code Act shall be amended as follows:

55 - Falsification of Balance Notes​

Offence Type: Indictable​

Penalty: Up to 1000 Penalty Units; Up to 450 minutes imprisonment; Restitution of any loss caused.​

A person commits an offence if:​

(a) they knowingly issue a false or misleading Balance Note under the Proof of Balance Act; or ​

(b) alter, delete, or interfere with a Balance Note or the Transaction History to hide a Depositor's true balance.​

Relevant law:​

​

---

56 - Unauthorized Decoding of Balance Notes​

Offence Type: Summary​

Penalty: Up to 250 Penalty Units.​

A person commits an offence if:​

(a) they use a Note Key to decode a Balance Note addressed to another person without that person's consent or the authority of a court.​

Relevant law:​

​

PART IV - IMPLEMENTATION

(1) The Office of Congressional Affairs is authorized to make any changes involving renumbering of sections as a result of edits made in this Act.