New York became the first state in the United States to create a cryptocurrency task force to study how to properly regulate, define, and use cryptocurrency.
NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo signed The Digital Currency Study Bill into law, a Facebook post by New York state or NYS lawmaker Clyde Vanel said.
Vanel, Chair of Subcommittee on Internet and New Technologies, stated that the members of the task force, appointed by the Governor, Senate and Assembly, are to submit reports by December 15, 2020.
In June, NYS legislature's banks committee had voted to progress the bill to create a digital currency task force. Vanel first proposed the task force in late 2017, introducing the bill in December that year.
Vanel noted that the members of the task force will include technologists, consumers, institutional and small investors, large and small blockchain enterprises and academics. The group shall report on digital currency, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
While describing the potential of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, he said that NYS was the first state to act following many incidents of Bitcoin exchanges getting hacked and people losing their holdings. In 2015, under Governor Cuomo, NYS Department of Financial Services promulgated the BitLicense to protect New Yorkers on cryptocurrency exchanges. To this day, the BitLicense is modeled by many states and countries, he said.
Julie Samuels, Executive Director of nonprofit organization Tech:NYC, said, "Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will, without a doubt, greatly impact finance and many other industries across the globe for years to come."
Certain other states in the U.S. have introduced legislation to create government agencies to study the potential impact of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy in June signed SB 443 into law, establishing a blockchain working group to study the technology and a plan to foster the expansion of the blockchain industry in the state.
In August, the California state legislature passed a bill to establish a blockchain technology working group, to examine the potential benefits of the technology to the state.
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