ALBANY, N.Y.—After nearly five years of tough oversight of blockchain technology and cryptospace, the New York Department of Financial Services is now looking to re-evaluate the BitLicense regulation and tweak it slightly to attract more Bitcoin-linked businesses to the region, BTC Manager reported.
NYDFS Superintendent Linda Lacewell, speaking at Georgetown University’s Institute of International Economic Law during DC Fintech Week, said there is a need for the agency to revisit the existing regulation and adapt it to the rapidly evolving cryptospace, BTC Manager reported.
“This is a good time to take a look, a responsible look and see how our regime is fitting the current market and… what if any adjustments should we think about making to continue to adapt to a changing industry…that’s going to be one of the things that we do,” Lacewell said.
Costs Can Approach $100,000
Since the introduction of the BitLicense by Benjamin Lawsky, the NYDFS’ first Superintendent of Financial Services on August 8, 2015, as part of plans to sanitize the state’s cryptocurrency industry, only 22 firms have successfully secured the license, due to its array of requirements that include a $5,000 application fee and processing costs of nearly $100k, BTC Manger said.
While some crypto-focused firms including Bitstamp, Robinhood, LibertyX, BitPay and a few others have successfully scaled the BitLicense hurdle, several other startups have not been lucky enough to get the nod of the DFS, BTC Manager said.
In April, the DFS rejected the BitLicense application of Bittrex crypto exchange on the grounds that the bitcoin trading venue’s anti-money-laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) standards were way below par, BTC Manager noted.
Regulations Working ‘Perfectly’
“The regulations are working perfectly, but we want to hear from industry about how they’re operating in practicality for industry and if there are any tweaks that we should make,” Lacewell said.