In light of the ongoing efforts by the state institutions to regulate cryptocurrencies due to the collapse of FTX, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has initiated a proposal to charge crypto companies for regulating them.
The bill was proposed on Dec. 1 by DFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris, who has sought the opinion of the members of the public on the move.
While the efforts to charge crypto platforms or companies may be odd or novel, it is a common practice under the Financial Services Law (FSL) to charge registered non-crypto financial entities.
The charges are meant to cover the expenses incurred by the agency in the course of regulating and monitoring their affairs. The public feedback is expected to be delivered within 10 days.
Meanwhile, Harris is seeking to place digital currency businesses in the same category with other regulated financial entities in New York given the fact that FSL laws do not have provisions for crypto companies.
Harris believed that the provisions will enable the Department of Financial Services to consolidate its virtual currency regulatory team unit with some top talents if finally passed into law.
She believed that companies will be held to the highest standards if there are clear-cut laws surrounding licensing, supervision, and enforcement. In the same vein, she emphasized that supervisory costs for the DFS will foster easy execution and consumers’ interests will be protected.
Crypto Industry Undergoes Regulations
More than any other time, the crypto industry is undergoing overwhelming regulations following the FTX debacle.
On Dec. 1, the U.S. Senate committee had a hearing on the FTX crisis during which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) headed by Rostin Behnam urged lawmakers to empower its agency with the necessary tools so as to address the legislation gap.
It is noteworthy that the U.S Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden has queried top leading crypto exchanges to disclose and explain their back-up plans for customers should what happened to FTX repeat itself.
