News Item 3: New Hampshire Governor Signs Bitcoin MSB Exemption Into Law
Decrypted: Almost a year and half ago, New Hampshire passed regulation making it illegal to sell bitcoin without a traditional money transmission license. Now they’ve changed that decision and signed a new law that exempts digital currency traders from the state’s money transmission regulations.
Our take: As New Hampshire lifts regulations on the digital currency sector, other states are still moving in the opposite direction. One of the reasons for New Hampshire’s reversal has been the opposition from “free staters”. The Free State Project was launched in 2003, and today thousands of free staters live in the state and several have been elected to the legislature.
Unless you are deep into payments and regulation, you might see America as one market. It is one currency, one language and 50 markets/states and there is competition between states.
To say the least, the regulatory landscape in the US. for digital currency and blockchain technology is mixed. Some states are taking a stance, good or bad, and most are doing nothing, stuck in some grey area. Change needs to come from above, because managing 50 different regulations is a huge task for any company, especially a startup. Hopefully, initiatives like “Financial Innovation Now”, a joint effort by Amazon, Apple, Google, Intuit and PayPal, can help push Washington make the needed reforms and spur innovation at the federal level.
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