Bitcoin Law: Money transmission on the state level in the US
My name is Marco Santori. I'm a business attorney for technology companies. In particular, I represent digital currency businesses. I am also the Chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation's Regulatory Affairs Committee. In this multi-part series, I will give a basic primer on the state of US law as it applies to digital currency entrepreneurs. I aim to help bitcoin businesses assess their risks and develop an informed business model. In Part I, we covered the law of money transmission on the federal level in the United States. We learned about the BSA, AML and KYC. We learned why money....
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Marco Santori of the Bitcoin Foundation has a piece up on CoinDesk in which he explores money transmission licenses at the state level in the US. This, he argues, is much trickier than simple FinCEN registration. The state with jurisdiction ultimately decides whether to grant a business a license to transmit money. It’s not a right, and it’s no entirely predictable for a 50-state rollout. Also, because a business meets FinCEN’s definition of a money transmitter does not mean the same applies at the state level. South Carolina and Montana do not even require licenses for such companies, and....
The State of California has passed legislation that should make it easier for bitcoin startups to do business in the state. AB 786, passed in the house last week, amends the California Money Transmission Act with some key provisions. The state's original Money Transmission Act (MTA) classified certain companies doing business in California as money transmitters, imposing stringent requirements on them before they could do business in the state. This legislation is enforced by the Department of Business Oversight (DBO), part of which until July 1 was known as the Department of Financial....
The Bitcoin Foundation has published a reply to the cease and desist order that the organization received on May 30 from California's Department of Financial Institutions. The cease and desist order was a vague one, telling the foundation to "cease and desist from the business of conducting money transmission in this state" without specifying what the foundation was actually doing that qualified as money transmission. There was little to go on; the Bitcoin Foundation is simply an advocacy organization that "standardizes, protects and promotes the use of Bitcoin cryptographic money for the....
Representatives of the blockchain industry spoke today at a North Carolina Senate Finance Committee meeting to advocate for a bill that they believe is among the more favorable seen so far at the state legislative level. At the center of discussion today was the state’s Money Transmitters Act, and changes to the legislative framework that would update the rules in accordance with guidance issued by the North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks (NCCOB) last December. Sponsored by Senator Rick Gunn, Senate Bill 680 would update the definition of money transmission to include any....
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has released a statement denying that Coinbase's new exchange is licensed to operate in the state under existing money transmission laws. In a press release, the state's financial services and money transmitters regulator called unnamed press reports that have stated that Coinbase had received regulatory approval to operate its exchange in California mistaken. In its statement, the agency said it was seeking to "correct erroneous reports that Coinbase Exchange has received regulatory approval from the State". DBO Commissioner Jan Lynn....