Bitcoin Forum

BITLICENSE: A BOON OR BUST?

On June 24th, 2015 the BitLicense was adopted by legislation and is now recognized by the NY Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Businesses handling bitcoin and virtual currencies must apply for the license within 45 days from its initial announcement and pay an application fee of $5000. August 8th was the deadline for all companies to comply.

Since that time we have seen a sizable exodus of startup companies choosing not to service the New York region precisely because of this regulation.

The bulk of the commentary on the BitLicense’s success thus far came from Ben Lawksy, who, as he puts it “is doing no work in the virtual currency space at all.” after implementation of the license then handing off the reigns of procurement to others at the Department of Financial Services NY. Lawksy states that “smart regulation puts guardrails and rules in place that hopefully won’t stifle innovation” and that “the jury is still out” on the BitLicense.

Read The Full Article (https://diginomics.com/?p=2450)

I'm struggling to understand why, as soon as Lawsky crafted the regulation (BitLicense), he conveniently stepped away from managing and overseeing its implementation.

Now he is opening a virtual currency and cybersecurity consulting firm? Am I hearing this correctly?

Yes this is correct. First he made the laws, then he is leaving his chair and now started his own crypto consulting company to support startups how to drive through that jungle of regulations he created. Of course just for a small buck.

This exodus of start ups must get the authorities thinking again.
Let us hope this feedback is enough for them to simplify things.

I hope like it and happens true  ;D

I strongly doubt the authorities will rethink the current regulations.

A large number of exchanges/businesses have already applied for licences to the authorities will not be concerned about the few who packed up and left.

only in American  :-\

8 in - 13 out


I think you got it mixed.
It's a few companies who applied and a large number that packed up and left. ;)

Did not realise so many were leaving but then again, the ones staying or applying number almost 50% and from what I know, stand to be corrected, those staying looks to be some of the larger operations.

EDIT: Knew I read somewhere that a large number applied.... http://www.coindesk.com/nydfs-22-bitlicense-applications/

So its actually 22 vs 13

Would be interesting to see an updated list as I think the startup community in the NY bitcoin scene has been hit even harder since 2015.

The NYSDFS fked themselves, when they implemented this in the State of New York. Most of the Crypto companies left the state and resumed operation in other states where they did not have to pay those ridiculous license fees and be subjected to all that red tape. The regulators of that piece of legislation created some nice jobs for them as consultants to explain the complex legislation to the busineses that had to adhere to it, before they would be allowed to operate under that BitLicense. A great barrier to entry for 1000's of Bitcoin startups in New York. ^hmmmmm^

I couldnt put it better myself. Word for word. Dude created bunch of traps and now is  making money for guiding trough them. That kind of bullshit actions should be illegal.

Looks like another small step towards moving financial centres away from New York. How long will it be before we start calling it Old York. :)

That is the beauty of free market and capitalism, you make pencil to write and create eraser to erase what you wrote

That is right. I think it is a kind of corruption.

Isn't that the truth. :)

New york is only hurting itself here, Why on earth they think that they can some how regulate a global decentralised system like bitcoin.  all they are doing is damaging themselves.  innovation will just go else where.

This is completely against the philosophy of Bitcoin. They are supposed to be be decentralised and not have it caught up in regulations and 5000$ that's a huge fees. It's strange that bitcoin has been forced to caught in this mess. Let's hope they do reconsider and this is not taken as a precipy and implemented by all countries.

They are protecting the fiat companies and looking after their interest and also their own pockets. Someone has to pay for a city with a Police

force equal to the size of a whole army of a small country.  ::) In the beginning everyone was looking towards the financial hub of the USA on

how to regulate this technology, so they went all out to protect their fiat buddies and created a legislation overkill.  >:(

I don't think that exist some power or authority which can impede the regulation of bitcoin. Even this can happen will be temporary. The most  brilliant example is Russia which declared bitcoin outlaw and now have made "dietrofront".

Seeing the post, I dont see government losing any battle especially when it comes to financial matters what I see is purely a setback in which they will go back to the drawing board and re-strategize because its government and that is what they do. We have given them the power to regulate us and they wont be stingy about using that power even if it means to our dis-advantage.

and not to mention that they only need coinbase to succeed, it's the largest for american people, the other large exachange are used from european like kraken and bitstamp

Yes, you're hearing that correctly. It's actually old news that was widely circulated within the community. It's crony capitalism at its best: Shortly before you leave office create a complex problem that you can offer to solve for high consulting fees. Lawsky did not think about innovation or whatever - all he thought about was filling his own pocket. In a country with a functioning justice system, he would serve jail time for what he did. But not in the U.S..

Going forward, Bitlicense will significantly reduce the attractiveness of NY as a world financial capital. Other countries and cities will be happy to take the lead...

ya.ya.yo!

"and while it may seem like a victory to those who passed it, it is important to understand the difference between winning a battle and winning a war. Those who passed this bill have only succeeded in winning a small battle, and as a result have set their state further behind."
New York New York, I feel sorry about you, I thought you will adopt bitcoins faster then others.
I dont use sites on their list, what this actually means for people from NY? How will this affect on them? I didn't saw in article nothing about them.

I think the whole bitlicense thing is just for regulators to cream money from Bitcoin and Altcoin users, businesses and it won't work and in the end NEW YORK will lose out on all the hustle and bustle that bitcoin and altcoin traders/speculators/owners and entrepreneurs bring to the table.

Sorry, but that has nothing to do with capitalism and free market. If nothing, thats exactly opposite of free market and capitalism. What it is, it's plain and simple corruption that happens eveerywhere. In New Yor, in China etc.....Capitalism, Communism, Whateverism...corruption is part of em all and it needs to be fought in them all.

I completely agree. There is corruption everywhere in the world in every political and economical system, left or right. And that is sad and tragic. And even more sad is that we can't avoid Bitcoin related corruption too. And I suppose that we all imagined that Bitcoin could somehow stay out of it and not be so abused. I guess that still isn't possible in real world.

i wonder whether the new york authorities have figured out that they might have turned almost everyone off with their rules yet. i can't see them being swamped with applications somehow.

Totally agree, they were covered the laws by pretend that for consumers protection.
All the government wants are taxes and control everything for their own profits.
For me, it's better to packed up and left, start over again in different country which doesn't hinder bitcoin development with such regulations.

The day is coming wen we have smart contract and can whatever we want and the govument can not stop. The they can stuck the rules in ther butt. Ha ha.

Will that smart contract be as "safe" as the Ethereum?

most of the states have not given any statement about bitcoin, they not declare it illegal and nor legal. i think most of the state are thinking about to declare it as legal currency because of the pressure of their people who are using bitcoin in a large scale.

In the long run decentralization will win over government.

Exactly. All any bitcoin company has to do is ignore New York. When bitcoin becomes big enough, the people will make NY reconsider if need be.

Yeah it will definitely take a long time for them to rethink the regulation of Bitcoin. I don't see why you need to use Bitcoin in NY. Just go some place else. There are so many countries out there that have regulated the use of Bitcoin.