US State Regulators: Bitcoin Businesses Aren't Applying for Licenses
State financial regulators in the US have received several inquiries about licensing bitcoin businesses, but few applications, it has been claimed. According to a report in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, the commissioner of banks in Massachusetts, David Cotney, claimed his state has only received one application to license a bitcoin business to date, with other states reporting similarly low figures. This news comes after the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) made a statement back in March that any company trading digital currencies would be regarded as a 'money transmitter'. In turn,....
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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....
An earlier version of this article indicated that Bitstamp, not Bitfinex, had withdrawn services from New York. Kraken and Bitfinex, two of the largest bitcoin exchanges by investment funding and daily trading volume, have indicated they will not be applying for licenses to operate in New York. The development is the latest in the ongoing debate over the BitLicense, New York's state-specific regulation for bitcoin businesses, which continues to be a lightning rod for criticism from both within the bitcoin community and more widely among mainstream technology advocacy groups. State....
About 400 crypto businesses in Estonia still hold licenses after the state revoked nearly 2,000 licenses last year. Financial regulators in the Baltic country of Estonia want to revoke all crypto exchange licenses in an effort to start the entire regulatory regime anew.Matis Mäeker, head of the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), has urged the state to “turn the regulation to zero and start licensing all over again,” local state-run news agency Eesti Ekspress reported on Wednesday.Mäeker claimed that the public is unaware of the risks of the cryptocurrency industry. Formerly the....
California may have a wealth of tech-savvy entrepreneurs anxious to create new businesses. But the state's lawmakers aren't doing them any favors as they move forward on a virtual currency license that saddles businesses with fees, paperwork and uncertainties. Businesses would have to pay a non-refundable fee of $5,000 just to apply for the license from the Commissioner of Business Oversight. Which makes one wonder about the bill's real intent. The Golden State's lawmakers aren't taking any time to study the ramifications of New York's recently-released Bitlicense before requiring their....
Though a number US states have recently introduced measures that would allow bitcoin to become accepted as payment, Vermont came into the spotlight this week for a different reason - its decision to abruptly shut down the state's only bitcoin ATM. While the machines operators, New York-based PYC, have tried to paint the state as out of touch with innovation, the state's Department of Financial Regulation is seeking to set the record straight that it's anything but. In a new interview, Commissioner Susan Donegan described digital currencies as "not a new issue" for the small New England....