While bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation is essential, it’s also very important to draft these guidelines in a way that will be for the good of all. New York State Assembly legislator Ron Kim (D-40) has unveiled a bill that intends to protect cryptocurrency investors and ease the bureaucratic burden on crypto-related businesses.
We also noted State Senator David Carlucci say to CoinDesk that: “We want to put that out there, circulate it and really figure out how we can make this license in New York state something that works for the residents of New York state and the state economy.”
Mounting pressure from the SEC and other regulatory frameworks led New York to launch its BitLicense digital currencies regulatory framework in 2015. The BitLicense has been very controversial around the Bitcoin community because of its strictness. This has led to some companies offering crypto services in the state to flee since its introduction.
Ahead of this buzz, the cash payment app Square that has been allowing users to buy and sell bitcoin since the start of 2018 is looking to jump a high hurdle and bring that service to New Yorkers.
Square’s spokesperson confirmed the process following a tweet earlier this week that suggested the company was "working on" opening up bitcoin buys and sells to users in that area. The company didn't immediately respond to a follow-up question about whether Square had already submitted an application or if it is preparing to do so.
It has been noted that until date, only a handful of companies have been granted a BitLicense, the regulatory framework first instituted in 2015.
Previously, Square made it incredibly simple to buy, sell and move Bitcoin into offline wallets. While exchanges were slowing down Square was promising faster processing times with no additional fees outside of what exchanges charged. By the end of January 2018, the service was available to all customers where it was legal. The move was a success for Square. It’s stock moved up 5% the first day it launched the competing service.
This company started off as a payment system that was to heed small businesses that were traditionally outpriced by the traditional banking services. Initially, the company didn’t have plans to offer crypto payments but the lure of the virtual currencies proved too much to handle and in November 2017 they decided to provide bitcoin services to a few customers.
Also read this for related information: https://cryptovest.com/news/bitcoin-foundation-new-york-lawmakers-need-to-refrm-fundamentally-flawed-bitlicense/
http://altcoinalerts.com/in-new-york-square-applies-for-bitlicense/