New York Backs Bitcoin but other US States Won’t!

Ben Lawsky, New York’s superintendent of financial services, trumpeted the news with a tweet. “Big day. New York issues first charter to a virtual currency company.” 
Lawsky and New York’s Department of Financial Services granted the charter to itBit, officially approving the company’s bitcoin exchange for use in the state, and on the same day, itBit opened the exchange to people nationwide, saying the charter provided the legal framework needed to operate in all fifty states. As The New York Times put it, itBit appeared to be “the winner in a race among bitcoin exchanges to become the first to be fully regulated in the United States.”
Certainly, the charter is a turning point for bitcoin, the digital currency that has found an audience online and has operated with government approval in many other countries but has been slow to win approval from US regulators. Carol Van Cleef, a partner with the national law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips who co-chairs the firm’s global payments practices and closely follows digital currencies, says the charter is, “a validation that digital currencies are here to stay.”
But the turning point isn’t a big as many believe it is. Though itBit says it can operate in all 50 states—and is indeed doing so—Van Cleef says some states may take a different view of the matter. “This is not necessarily going to be a blank pass to offer services in all states,” she says, explaining that some states could require the company to win additional licenses beyond the New York charter. States like, say, California.
Bitcoin companies are treading on ground where no others have. And the path to regulation is far from obvious. Even inside New York, things are complicated. The state has said its putting together a “BitLicense” specifically for use with digital currency companies, and yet it has approved itBit for operation under an existing regulatory framework.
All that said, New York is clearly interested in moving forward, for reasons of politics, market pressure, or both. Not only did it approve an exchange before the arrival of its BitLicense, Lawsky tweeted the news. (The Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter).
Wired:  http://wrd.cm/1cAW4AK