NYDFS ‘More Eager Than Anyone’ for Federal Legislation, Chief Says

NEW YORK — New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris said federal legislation addressing cryptocurrencies would be welcome, but maintained that states should keep their existing roles overseeing digital assets.

States have been able to move more quickly while conventional wisdom that allowing states to regulate digital assets may create a “race to the bottom” in terms of regulatory oversight hasn’t been borne out, Harris said at the Digital Asset Compliance and Market Integrity Summit in midtown Manhattan Wednesday.

“We are maybe more eager than anyone to have a federal partner and to see federal legislation and regulation,” Harris said. “I think it’s really important that legislation gets passed, regulations get written, but it is still important that there is a role for the states.”

Harris said she was “optimistic” that the House and Senate might move legislation soon, saying NYDFS has spoken to both parties in both houses of the legislature over the past few years.

New York’s BitLicense, which is nearly a decade old, has evolved over the years but the regulator’s view of it has stayed the same, Harris said.

“I think our approach hasn’t evolved that much. The approach was always about, how do you sort of square these competing objectives of fostering innovation, but protecting consumers and markets,” she said. “And so that means you really have to stay abreast of developments in industry, but also be the cop on the beat and strike that balance.”

NYDFS has one of the world’s largest crypto units, Harris said, with 60 full-time staffers dedicated to the crypto sector.

Harris said the general public’s views on the BitLicense have similarly become more accepting since its introduction, a change she called “gratifying.” Even federal lawmakers have pointed to the BitLicense as an example.

“[That’s] not to say that it’s perfect, right? There are some really valid critiques, both in terms of the rule and the way it has been operationalized,” she said. “But it’s been so gratifying to see California, Illinois, Nebraska, and then the EU and Singapore; everybody sort of takes pieces.”