The crypto space has reacted positively to the new changes made to the BitLicense, Linda Lacewell, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), said Tuesday. Discussing recent updates to the state’s contentious crypto regulatory framework as part of the Global Leaders Webinar Series sponsored by Global Digital Finance (GDF) in partnership with Global Blockchain Business Council, Lacewell said some in the space may […]
BitLicense
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New York’s financial watchdog has warned crypto companies that their BitLicense applications could be thrown out without warning if its feedback is not heeded. In an update Wednesday, New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) said a new three-strikes rule would authorize it to deny any applications that didn’t address or consider any deficiencies highlighted by the regulator. The warning reads, “[I]f all deficiencies involving a […]
New York’s BitLicense debuted in 2015 to mixed reviews. Many found the regulation to be too cumbersome and felt that crypto startups were being subjected to more onerous regulations than regular financial institutions. Others defended it on the grounds that it was necessary to protect consumers and help the crypto industry mature. In action, the BitLicense was quick to change the landscape of New York’s crypto […]
When the BitLicense was introduced in 2015, 15 crypto firms including international players like Hong Kong’s Bitfinex and Swiss company ShapeShift (which operates out of Denver) ceased operations in New York. In 2018, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees called the regulation of crypto in New York “an absurdity.” But the firms that stuck around have a different story to tell. The New York Department of Financial Services […]
Today marks five years of the BitLicense, the controversial crypto safety rail enacted by New York State’s top financial watchdog. In half a decade only 25 licenses have been doled out, including two to a firm associated with the BitLicense’s architect, former head of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Benjamin Lawsky. You’re reading Blockchain Bites, the daily roundup of the most pivotal stories […]
As Benjamin Lawsky, then the head of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), was readying his cryptocurrency business licensing regime in October 2014, he told a group of law students it was highly likely other states would look to his proposal as a model for designing their own regulations. Lawsky’s reasoning was simple: New York had placed itself at the “forefront” of a […]
Five years after throwing up a wall around its market few crypto startups could scale – a wall known as the BitLicense – New York is handing down a ladder. The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said Wednesday that it will consider issuing conditional licenses, under which startups would be allowed to partner with existing licensed entities to begin operations in the Empire State. […]
Benjamin Lawsky, the former financial regulator who created New York’s BitLicense in 2015, joined New York Digital Investment Group Asset Advisory LLC (NYDIG) nearly a year before the bitcoin fund manager applied for, and received, that license. Lawsky’s ties to NYDIG, which has raised $230 million in six separate fund sales since 2018, are documented in the asset advisory’s March Form ADV filing with the U.S. […]
Eris Clearing, the clearing and settlement arm of ErisX, has been awarded the hard-to-come-by Virtual Currency License from New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). “We are pleased that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) recognized our commitment to the high standards we borrowed from existing capital markets structures and applied them to the cryptocurrency space,” said Thomas Chippas, CEO of ErisX, in a […]