New York regulators provide crypto guidance for banks

So, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) dropped some new guidelines about digital assets for banks on December 15. This guidance pretty much lays out what info banks need to provide before they get the green light to dive into crypto-related activities. It’s a big deal since it’s one of the clearest roadmaps for banks wanting to offer crypto services. They gotta submit a business plan with all the details about what they wanna do, explain how this will affect their capital and liquidity, and also give NYDFS a heads up at least 90 days in advance about their plans.

If I understood everything correctly, then this is just a less severe form of BitLicense without having to go through the ridiculous process of obtaining one and by introducing this route, they'll be able to shift a portion of the traffic into something that they directly control, as opposed to centralized third-party platforms that they'd need to make various request before having access to certain information [if we take out the differences for getting the final approval, then there'd be only a small gap between the two].

Having a clear direction is better than having no or ambiguous direction. Bitlicense was hugely complected and was a blocker for small companies to engage with banks regarding crypto related businessman. If the new guidelines are removing ambiguous directions, then it's good for the the overall crypto ecosystem. But I really don't like the idea of banks to get into crypto related services because of the centralisation risk. But new capital will flow into the market for good reasons.

Coming from a NY resident, the NYDFS is both hated and loved here. To a certain extent they do as stated above have a bit of over the top regulation that does slow things down and make things difficult at times here. OTOH, they are the 800lb gorilla with a bat. You will obey and if not suffer the beatings (lawsuits and fines) if you want to deal in NY. There are banks here that have more money flowing though them for New Yorkers then some states have GDP. So, if you want to play in this league to so speak you have to follow the rules. -Dave