By The crypto industry is thriving as new firms are opening up in the space everyday and larger firms such as Facebook and JP Morgan are taking the leap into the crypto industry and this has brought the conversation onto the world stage.
With cryptocurrency and blockchain here to stay, regulatory bodies around the world have their work cut out for them by having to establish laws and divisions to cater to the growing industry and the latest of these was announced on July 23, 2019 when the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) announced that a new department has been set up that will be responsible for the licensing and regulation of cryptocurrency-related businesses.
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The new department in question is called the Research and Innovation Division and they will be responsible for “licensing and supervising virtual currencies, and it will assess new efforts to use technology to address financial exclusion.”
As part of the efforts that the state of New York has been making to accommodate blockchain and crypto, businesses that are involved in the trade or insurance of digital assets are required to apply for and be approved for the bitlicense, which is an official licence that grants them the right to operate within the state of New York. To obtain the license, businesses must maintain certain standards regarding data protection, anti-money-laundering, know-your-customer, disclosure and so on. This law has been rather controversial as while many believe it is a way of regularising and helping the industry progress, some see it as restrictive and an effort by the government to control the industry.
Along with this new department, several appointments have also been made as the division will be headed by Matthew Homer, who was previously head of policy and research at Quovo. He has also worked at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the United States Agency for International Development and thus, brings a wealth of experience to his new position. There will also be two deputy superintendents who are Matthew Siegel and Olivia Bumgardner.
Both will work under Homer with Siegel having previously been a trial attorney in the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice and also at the assistant attorney general in antitrust Bureau of the New York State Office of the attorney general.
Bumgardner is currently the director of research at NYDFS and has worked on projects related to cybersecurity, financial inclusion, and digital currency.
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