Do we really need more guidance from FinCEN?

In May of last year, FinCEN issued guidance on “virtual currency” that reiterated and explained its original 2014 guidance. It essentially articulates a general principle: a business is subject to...

Do anti-encryption bills in Congress pose a risk to cryptocurrency?

Two bills threatening encryption are driving headlines in the cryptocurrency space, the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data (LAED) Act and the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (“EARN...

There is no such thing as “a bitcoin”

Recently on Twitter, the St. Louis Fed’s David Andolfatto asked an interesting question: How hard would it be to track these funds and mark them as fully taxable at any...

Can we decentralize physical infrastructure along with software protocols?

With the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto demonstrated a means of achieving distributed consensus (agreement over important data like Bitcoin transactions) at a planetary scale without the need...

What’s in the Bitlicense’s 5-year update?

Some good changes have been made and a door to fix the main issue has been opened.

On the Bitlicense’s 5th anniversary, NYDFS has announced plans to streamline the licensing application process, the new coin listing process, and it has updated a Frequently Asked Questions page. These...

How the OCC can clear a path for financial technology entrepreneurs

The agency’s new acting head has experience with patchwork state licensing.

At last week’s Consensus: Distributed virtual conference Brian Brooks, chief operating officer of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), said the agency should consider a federal licensing scheme...