It may be unsurprising to many New Yorkers that New York City’s Mayor is against the idea of strict standards for cryptocurrency within the state.
But Eric Adams is coming out with new remarks about his opposition to the traditional New York Bitlicense program that is making that state less friendly to blockchain assets than many others around the country.
Ever since 2015, a Bitlicense has been a requirement in New York for money transmitting companies involved in the crypto space.
Adams wants to change that to make things more competitive. For reference, Adams took his first three paychecks in cryptocurrency after his recent inauguration.
“Sometimes the best time to buy is when things go down, so when they go back up, you made a good profit,” Adams told reporters at the time regarding BTC volatility.
In recent days, Adams has been more vociferous in his approach, bringing to mind, in a quote from Jesse Coghlan’s coverage at Cointelegraph, a crazed day worker with a box cutter.
“It’s about thinking not only outside the box, but on this one, we may have to destroy the box,” Adams reportedly said.
The outlook seems different in the New York State assembly and Governor’s office, where legislators are at work on crypto regulation.
“In the state capital of Albany, lawmakers take an altogether stricter regulatory approach to the cryptocurrency industry than Adams would,” Coghlan writes. “On Tuesday, the New York State Assembly passed a bill to the Senate which would place a two-year ban on all new proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency mining facilities using carbon energy. On April 9, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a requirement that BitLicensed firms must pay assessment fees to cover the cost of regulatory operating expenses incurred by the DFS, placing possibly tens of thousands of dollars a year extra in fees on firms.”
Keep an eye on what happens in New York.
