Thursday, July 17, 2014

Here It Comes: New York State Proposes Bitcoin Regulation

New York State’s top financial regulator has taken a big step to bring Bitcoin and other virtual currencies under its purview, reports NYT.

On Thursday, Benjamin M. Lawsky, the superintendent of financial services, announced proposed regulations for virtual currency companies operating in New York. The “BitLicense” plan, which includes rules on consumer protection, the prevention of money laundering and cybersecurity, is the first proposal by a state to create guidelines specifically for virtual currency.

“It’s a comprehensive framework. It’s trying to get at the whole virtual currency ecosystem,”  Lawsky said in an interview with NYT. “We’ve tried to build some flexibility into these rules so, as these technologies change, we can bend to allow those innovations to continue.”

The new rules would be required for Bitcoin exchanges and for companies that secure, store or maintain custody or control of the virtual currency on behalf of customers.

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