The Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) said the cryptocurrency industry has responded positively to the changes made to the BitLicense.
NYDFS Superintendent Linda Lacewell said some in the cryptocurrency industry might "curse" the regulator, but the new changes to BitLicense have been pretty well received. She announced this as part of the Global Leaders Webinar Series under the auspices of Global Digital Finance (GDF) in collaboration with the Global Blockchain Business Council.
“The response was very positive and more than that,” she said.
Laswell is not surprised by the industry's response to the state's regulatory updates because the regulator has been working on changes to the licensing regime with industry players - both licensed and unlicensed - and experts to understand its flaws.
“We even had a few licensees telling us that they are very interested in getting additional licenses to work with their partners in the cryptocurrency industry,” Laswell said.
Laswell said that when she took over as NYDFS Superintendent last year, she immediately appointed additional staff to handle pending BitLicense applications. This has contributed to the successful licensing of several companies.
“I thought this license was five years old and we need to look at it in a new way,” Laswell said. “I was very aware of the criticism of the license and the fact that it was not universal and required a lot of investment from companies to work in the state. We knew we needed to clarify and explain the regulatory regime and license application process. "
As part of this effort, the NYDFS last month proposed a "conditional" license under which cryptocurrency companies could work with firms that already have a valid BitLicense. In December last year, it also became known that the Department is developing rules to regulate the listing of tokens as part of the first step to revise the New York BitLicense.
“When it all started, people thought they were one-day companies, a crazy idea and so on, right? But there are responsible participants in the market. Any financial service or product can be misused, misused and turned into a bad instrument, ”said Laswell.
Finally, Laswell said the NYDFS wants innovators to be in New York City and thrive.
“We want innovators to be right here in New York, which has historically been home to a lot of inventions and has always set the standard not only for the rest of the country, but for the entire world,” Laswell said.
