Japan’s Legal Bitcoin Could Do More Damage Than NY BitLicense
According to IndieSquare Co-founder Koji Higashi, new regulations in Japan, which will make Bitcoin an official form of payment, may do more harm than good for the fledgling industry in the country. Japan to Introduce Own ‘Bitlicense’. Following the disastrous demise of the infamous Japanese exchange, Mt. Gox and the arrest of its CEO Mark Karpelès, regulators in the country decided to introduce regulations for Bitcoin. The regulatory framework has been in the works for over two years. The first bill was submitted to the Diet in Japan (the legislature consisting of the Lower and the Upper....
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As Japan prepares to enforce a bill that mandates the regulation of bitcoin and virtual currency exchanges in the country, it raises the question as to whether this will do more damage to the bitcoin/blockchain space like what the BitLicense has done to New York? In a recent blog, Koji Higashi, co-founder of bitcoin and crypto platform IndieSqaure, said that he had serious doubts about the law bringing long-term benefits to the Japanese community, going so far as to say that it could ‘set a bad precedent.’ Yet, bitcoin has had a bad reputation, particularly in Japan, following the fiasco....
The highly restrictive and controversial New York BitLicense has claimed another victim. Eobot, a Bitcoin cloud mining company, will be ceasing operations in New York state as of July 1, 2015. Eobot has made the decision to cut off its services to New York because it believes the BitLicense requirements are “excessive”: From Eobot: “To All Customers: If you are residing in and/or accessing Eobot within the State of New York, US, please withdraw all coins and cease all mining with Eobot as of July 1, 2015, as we are ceasing all Eobot mining connections from within New York at that time. We....
The process of getting all of the paperwork and legal documentation together is both time-consuming, and costly. But that is not the biggest concern, as BitLicense requires companies to keep an extensive amount of details on all of their customers. Two more companies are on the brink of obtaining the infamous Bitlicense, which makes Coinbase and Ripple compliant Bitcoin entities in the state of New York. Both companies applied for their license several months ago, but it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel. According to a source familiar with the matter, both Ripple and....
While the BitLicense has caused many companies to leave New York, those that intend to stay are progressing though the regulatory process. This week, one of the world's largest Bitcoin services and wallet providers Coinbase became the 25thcompany to file for a BitLicense, which is expected to cost more than $100,000 in legal and compliance fees, according to Bitstamp Executive Vice President and chief legal officer George Frost. Since February, Coinbase has continued to work with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) to improve the regulations and restrictions set on....
Following the publication of this article, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Financial Services told CoinDesk "miners and mining pools are exempt from the BitLicense". BTC Guild is set to close at the end of June, months after previously announcing that it would shut down its long-running bitcoin mining pool. In its announcement, posted to Bitcoin Talk, owner Eleuthria cited the finalization of the BitLicense as a primary motivator for shutting down, stating that BTC Guild could not afford any legal threats that may arise as a result of the New York regulatory framework.....