Lawsky Says New York to Adapt Existing Rules for Bitcoin

New York will adapt existing rules to license digital-currency firms even as it considers law-enforcement calls for tough measures to prevent money laundering, the state’s top financial regulator said.

“We do not have to throw out all of our existing rules for money transmitters or banks, which have generally served consumers well when vigorously enforced,” Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York Department of Financial Services, said yesterday in a speech to a New America Foundation conference on Bitcoin in Washington. “Certain aspects of virtual currency could dovetail with existing regulations.”