Senate Bill 885 aims to clarify the status of digital asset staking and staking as a service under Wisconsin's securities laws. The bill establishes that these activities are not considered securities, thereby exempting them from the registration requirements typically imposed on securities transactions. To support this clarification, the bill introduces several definitions, including "digital asset," which refers to any digital representation of value recorded on a secure distributed ledger, and "staking," defined as the act of committing a digital asset to support a blockchain protocol's operations. Additionally, "staking as a service" is defined as the provision of technical solutions by third-party providers to facilitate token owners' participation in staking.

The bill creates new statutory sections to formalize these definitions and exclusions. Specifically, it adds definitions for "node," which refers to software that maintains blockchain integrity without exercising transaction discretion, and explicitly states that staking and staking as a service are not included in certain regulatory definitions. This legislative change is intended to foster a clearer regulatory environment for digital asset activities in Wisconsin, promoting innovation while ensuring consumer protection.