Institutional Investor Seeks Perry for Comment on Bitcoin Regulation

Kennyhertz Perry’s Braden Perry provided insight and background into the possible regulation of the virtual currency Bitcoin in an article recently published by Institutional Investor. In the article, Perry explains that even the U.S. government has accepted the idea of a virtual currency: A little over a year ago, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network provided guidance that administrators and exchanges of virtual currencies would have to register with the agency as money services businesses and adhere to related reporting and record keeping regulations, just like foreign exchange dealers. So far, three Bitcoin exchanges have registered with FinCEN.

In the article, Perry calls the FinCEN decision “a huge boost for the Bitcoin ecosystem, especially in the U.S., where exchanges were not able to form banking relationships.” There is a a downside, however, that Perry pointed out: state regulation. In March, New York State Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky called for proposals to recommend how the state should regulate virtual currency exchanges. As the article states, regulation of any kind — by a government or self-regulation — may clash with the decentralized nature of Bitcoin.

Kennyhertz Perry is a business and litigation law firm dedicated to serving entrepreneurs. The Kansas City area firm was founded by John Kennyhertz and Braden Perry, both of whom have extensive experience in business law, litigation and financial services.