The following is an excerpt from an article published on dinbits.com in which BitAML founder, Joe Ciccolo, shares his thoughts on the bitcoin compliance landscape for 2017.
The regulatory landscape in the United States for virtual currency and blockchain technology is more defined than ever in 2017. As of January 1st, 2017 there are now 13 states with clearly defined positions and/or regulations in regards to the blockchain and digital currency industry.
Almost all others remain a gray area with the exception of South Carolina and Montana, both of which have no Money Transmission laws. New Mexico is no longer in that category and in fact introduce regulation effective January 1st, 2017 restricting the activity engaged with virtual currency.
There’s 15 states total (some gray areas of concern) to be aware of, 5 of which are good and 10 that are not. The other 37 state/territories are gray areas currently. In a nutshell, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Hawaii, Georgia, North Carolina, Washington, and New Mexico have regulations not favorable to virtual currency and should be avoided or addressed.
Joe Ciccolo, President of regulatory compliance firm BitAML based in Illinois spoke with dinbits.com and provided some professional thoughts on the 2017 landscape.
“For 2017, I’m anticipating that we will see bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms continue to compel bitcoin traders to implement AML/KYC, a phenomenon that appeared to ramp up in the second half of 2016. ” – Joe Ciccolo, BitAML.
