US crypto legislation is proposed to resemble that of New York

By Shashank Bhardwaj| Nov 18, 2022

Adrienne Harris, the head of New York's financial services department said her state's rigorous rules should serve as a model for federal legislation

[CAPTION]Image: Shutterstock[/CAPTION]

In the wake of the collapse of the FTX, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) commissioner Adrienne Harris participated in a countrywide conversation on regulatory reform for crypto. She is of the opinion that any future federal law regarding crypto should not collide with or overwrite existing state regulatory systems.

During her address “Digital asset regulation: The state viewpoint,” Harris urged that politicians in Washington look more closely at the regulatory framework in place in the state of New York: “We would like for there to be a framework nationally that looks like what New York has, because I think it is proving itself to be a very robust and sustainable regime.”

According to Harris, there is a need for more regulations rather than fewer. She highlighted the extensive registration process followed in New York, which takes care of aspects like financial statements, assessing the company’s organisational structure, the fitness of its executives, and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and KYC (Know Your Customer) regimes so as to ensure the financial safety for all investors. As Harris sees it, this is absolutely mandatory to follow if you want to make sure investors stay safe in all their financial dealings.

During the same panel, Peter Marton pointed out that the FTX exchange had never been given a BitLicense to conduct their business within their jurisdiction in particular. Notably, Marton is in charge of virtual currency for the New York Department of Financial Services.

In relevant news, BitLicense was first introduced in 2015 and is notoriously difficult to obtain. Even Eric Adams, who is the Mayor in New York City, has spoken up against the difficulty one faces in obtaining said BitLicense. It is to be noted that Adams is very much pro crypto, and he wants to make New York City into the centre of the US crypto industry for a while now.

Further on the crypto regulation front, the Biden White House has presented its first idea of crypto regulation in the US in the coming times. It plans out how the US financial services industry can make cross border transactions easier, and how to eliminate crypto based frauds.

The writer is the founder at yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash