In a joint letter addressed to the NYDFS head, Benjamin Lawsky, the heads of three of china’s exchanges, BTC China, Huobi, and OKCoin Bobby Lee, Lin Li, and Mingxing Xu, respectively, expressed the impact NY’s regulatory practices would have on their future business expansions into the region.
Currently, BitLicense, is strongly opposed by the Bitcoin industry as leading heads of businesses see the regulatory guidelines likely to have a ‘choking’ effect on the growth of cryptocurrency adoption. Going a step further was Jeremy Allaire, Circle’s chief, who believes BitLicense, when applied, shall result in the ‘geofencing’ of NewYork services.
Given the extreme views of local businesses and country-wide experts, Chinese input does hold some significance.
According to Mr. Lee, the reason for the joint letter was thus,
“Even though we’re far away…the U.S. is still the leader of the free world, and New York is the leader in the financial services space.”
The letter addresses three of the Red Dragon’s trading perceptions, such as the vague definition of “virtual currency business activity,” which could lead to unnecessary complications. Second, the letter expressed reservations on the need to subject affiliates to NY regulatory reviews and the third on the ‘due diligence’ aspect, for the protection of US citizens.
Expecting changes to the current line-up of guidelines, the authors of the letter concluded with the following request:
“We look forward to assisting the NYDFS in its endeavor to make the BitLicense regime an exemplary framework that thwarts financial crimes, safeguards customer assets and unleashes the enormous potential virtual currency and its underlying blockchain protocol has to offer.”