How the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) Regulates Virtual Currency, a Close Look with Special Guest Kaitlin Asrow, Executive Deputy Superintendent of Research and Innovation, DFS

Consumer Finance Monitor

After reviewing the licensing/chartering/approval structures that DFS uses for entities seeking to engage in virtual currency activities, we discuss the role of guidance in DFS’s regulation and oversight of virtual currency, particularly new DFS guidance on digital asset custody practices and DFS expectations for how entities acting as digital asset custodians can better protect customers in the event of an insolvency or similar proceeding. We also discuss feedback DFS has received from other regulators and industry, steps DFS takes to ensure accountability and compliance with its guidance, the role of industry engagement with DFS in compliance programs, DFS recruiting and training efforts, likely areas of focus for future DFS guidance, including the role of disclosures and suitability requirements, and DFS engagement with federal and state regulators in establishing uniform standards for regulation of virtual currency.

Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel in Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, hosts the conversation, joined by Lisa Lanham, a partner in the Group.