Visualizing Digital Currency Regulation State-by-state
Our new interactive map lets you easily see which states have policies favorable to open blockchain innovation—and which ones still have a way to go.
Today we are updating our State-by-State Regulatory Tracker for Digital Currency Policy to include an interactive map that deals with the complicated subject of whether existing state money transmission law covers—or could cover—activities involving digital currency.
Whether any activity involving digital currency fits the definition of “money transmission” in a particular state’s law will depend on how broadly the state’s legislature drafted that definition and whether the state has adopted legislation specifically addressing digital currency activities or whether the licensing authority has issued interpretive guidance. In some states the definition is broad, in others it is narrow, and only a handful of states have offered digital-currency-specific legislation or guidance. Our interactive map tracks which is which.
We have also updated our spreadsheet that tracks specific legislation and guidance efforts underway in each state. It can be used to compare various ongoing, completed, or failed state approaches to each other, as well as to our State Digital Currency Principles and Framework, and to the Uniform Law Commission’s Uniform Regulation of Virtual Currency Businesses Act. We prefer approaches that either match our framework or the substance of the ULC model Act.
We hope this is a useful resource for the entire cryptocurrency community.