Community Debates What's Next After New York Hearings
The dust has settled from the virtual currency hearings in New York City this week. We saw a mixture of speakers, including law enforcement agents warning of digital currencies' many potential dangers, VCs getting hot under the collar over the regulation debate, regulators musing about whether they should license miners or not, and one vehemently anti-bitcoin academic. New York state has almost 20 million people - around 6% of the US population - and houses the heart of its financial services industry. It was a good place for the first state-level inquiry into the regulation of....
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The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has announced the witness list for its upcoming hearings on virtual currencies to be held on 28th and 29th January in New York City. Notable names from the virtual currency community that will be participating include principals of Winklevoss Capital Management, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Jeremy Allaire, the CEO and founder of Circle. Charles Lee, the founder of Litecoin; and Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase. Speaking to law enforcement concerns regarding bitcoin will be District Attorney of New York County Cyrus R. Vance....
Mister Bitcoin gets sworn in at the New York Bitcoin hearings. Most of the Bitcoin hearings held by various governments around the world have been rather boring, but yesterday's New York Bitcoin hearing actually offered something different. These hearings usually consist of Bitcoin entrepreneurs and specialists advising regulators on what they should do to foster Bitcoin-related innovation in the local country, but the regulators will usually reply simply with, "9/11." Up to this point, it's pretty much been Bitcoin experts talking to a brick wall that doesn't want to share much about its....
If day one of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) hearings on virtual currencies was characterized by a circus-like atmosphere and initial tension from both parties, day two saw the emergence of a loose consensus of regulatory goals that could benefit the bitcoin community as well as help regulators bring stability and safety to the market. Members of the bitcoin business community continued to express a desire for reasonable regulations, and named wallets and exchanges as the best places for initial oversight. Further, academics and regulators began to define the space....
Benjamin Lawsky, an increasingly familiar name in the bitcoin space, is once again making the news. Lawsky, presently serving as the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), is reportedly leaving the regulatory body some time next year, according to a report published last week by Bloomberg. Under Lawsky's watch, the NYDFS collected over $3 billion in fines from banks, called for the termination of executives, and overall came down very hard on financials institutions that weren't exactly following the rules. In the bitcoin community, Lawsky first caught the....
NY State Dept. of Financial Services Holding Hearings on Regulation of Virtual Currencies This Month
It seems like governments everywhere are interested in talking about bitcoin. New York state is no exception, with an announcement today indicating that hearings will be held on virtual currencies later this month. Benjamin M. Lawsky - Superintendent of Financial Services at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) - has pegged the dates of the public hearings on both January 28th and 29th (Tuesday and Wednesday). The hearings are reportedly centered around the regulation of virtual currencies, the most popular of which being bitcoin, of course. This "fact-finding....