We Shouldn’t Try to Fit Bitcoin into Existing Legal Structures

The past few weeks have been rife with discussion on BitLicense, the proposed Bitcoin regulation coming from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Headed by Ben Lawsky, the Department has embarked upon creating a licensing system that all Bitcoin companies doing business in the state of New York would have to be compliant with. This proposed regulation has, of course, been met with animosity from the community. Most members of the Bitcoin community agree that BitLicense, if made into law in its current form, would increase the cost of business and thereby limit competition and compromise consumer privacy, at the very least. Some members of the community, who take more of an ideological approach to Bitcoin regulation, have argued that any laws regarding digital currency at all would undermine the purpose of creating Bitcoin, so we should refrain from passing any digital currency legislation.

This post was published at Coin Brief on September 2, 2014.