The Superintendent of Financial Services at the New York State Department of Financial Services, Mr. Ben Lawsky, has publicly released the highly-awaiting BitLicense regulation proposals that come as a result of hearings that took place earlier this year.
The push came via the Bitcoin page on social sharing website Reddit.com as a means to connect with one of the largest online digital currency communities.
According to Lawsky, the drafted proposal will make its was to the New York State Register on the 23rd of July, which will commence a public commenting period of forty-five days. Following the commenting and period of scrutiny, the proposals will be “subject to additional review” and potentially revised, depending on the circumstances.
“In developing this regulatory framework, we have sought to strike an appropriate balance that helps protect consumers and root out illegal activity – without stifling beneficial innovation. These regulations include provisions to help safeguard customer assets, protect against cyber hacking, and prevent the abuse of virtual currencies for illegal activity, such as money laundering,” Lawsky wrote.
He continues:
[blockquote style=”2″]We recognize that not everyone in the virtual currency community will be pleased about the prospect of a new regulatory framework. Ultimately, though, we believe that setting up common sense rules of the road is vital to the long-term future of the virtual currency industry, as well as the safety and soundness of customer assets. (We think the situation at Mt. Gox, for example, made that very clear.) Moreover, given that states have specific regulatory responsibilities in this area, we also have a legal obligation to move forward on this framework.[/blockquote]
A copy of the proposal is made available here [link], and we’ve embedded it below for your review.
NYDFS Bitcoin Regulation Proposal
The forty-page proposal covers everything from compliance (which is a given), books and records, disclosures, anti-money laundering and cyber security programs, and even advertising and marketing.
It will be interesting to see what members of the community, particular those who do business in the State of New York have to say about the proposal.
