NYDFS Hackathon Is ‘Testament’ to Crypto’s Growth

While President Biden’s Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, says she plans to take aim at digital assets and blockchain based financing with comprehensive federal regulation over the next four years,  in New York State government regulators are increasingly asking for digital asset industry’s help rather than just implementing rules—perhaps outlining a more innovative approach for regulators across the Country.

A two-week-long “hackathon” led by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYSDFS) shows the faith that regulators, including Superintendent Linda Lacewell, have put in the key industry stakeholders—and it is increasingly turning to them to help better regulate the digital asset industry.   Lacewell and DFS organized a “techsprint” a two week event with participation by both industry and regulators over the first two weeks of March. DFS, along with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) and the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), invited industry participants to help it improve how it oversees regulated virtual currency businesses.

DFS drawing on key industry stakeholders is an important vote of confidence in the industry. DFS is arguably the leading state regulator in the digital asset space. The BitLicense it enacted over five years ago, under first every DFS Superintendent Ben Lawsky, was the first of its kind of any regulation in the Country. Lacewell has continuously expressed interest in updating regulations. The techsprint could be a significant step in how the regulator continues supervising the industry, but drawing from industry expertise and not just its own research.

It could also send a signal to other regulators and companies in the U.S., detailing one way that digital assets regulation can evolve in future.

Read more on the DFS techsprint here: https://www.coindesk.com/nydfs-techsprint