Lawsky: BitLicense Will Be Finalized By End of May

New York Department of Financial Services superintendent Benjamin M. Lawsky anticipates the final version of the BitLicense regulatory framework will be released sometime before the end of May.

Speaking to reporters on 21st April during a Dow Jones risk and compliance conference in New York City, Lawsky noted that his office is in contact with other state regulators and is watching how both domestic and foreign regulation of digital currency activities takes shape.

“We’re going to see how this all shakes out. I think there’s room for federalism, but at the same time if you have a whole series of different rules and it becomes a crazy quilt patchwork, that can get hard to comply with,” he said.

Last week, a NYDFS representative told CoinDesk that the NYDFS plans to release the final version of the BitLicense "very soon" but did not provide a specific date at the time.

Proposals for the BitLicense, which will regulate bitcoin business activity in the state of New York, were first released last year and have since been revised over the course of several comment periods.

The proposals have sparked debate among entrepreneurs and community members over the degree to which such activities should be regulated.