Regulators Planning Bitcoin Rule-Book

May 22, 2014 -The Emerging Payments Task Force, a group of nine members of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), plans to create a “rule book” for Bitcoin with in the year, according to David Cotney, Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks.

Cotney said, “We may be looking at some type of model definitions, or model laws or regulations, and very likely recommendations to either our federal colleagues or to Congress.”

The task force plans to identify and define which operators, including new payment technologies such as PayPal and mobile phone payments, need to be regulated and which do not, Cotney said in the interview.

Currently, Bitcoins are classified under different categories by different government entities. The IRS says Bitcoins should be treated as property, and FinCEN classified exchangers of Bitcoin as money transmitters, placing them in the domain of state regulators.

ETA participated in a hearing before the CSBS in Chicago this month and advocated for a measured regulatory approach to new technology. Although different approaches to virtual currency regulation have merit, ETA believes that regulators need to consider the risk of impeding the U.S. as an innovation leader if new platforms and technologies are reflexively regulated simply because they are new. The question of paramount importance is whether existing oversight provides the safeguards needed to effectively protect consumers.

Learn more about ETA’s political advocacy programs HERE and read Reuters report HERE.