New York SBDC Research Network

From Bizjournals.com : You’ve probably heard about the fast rise of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies this year. We’ve seen a rise in bitcoin from $954.71 on December 28, 2016 to a new high of $4,455.97 on August 15 of this year, according to coin market cap. Some have been calling it a bubble. While that is possible, today we’re seeing major countries and corporations around the world devoting resources to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. You don’t want to take the attitude of those who dismissed major trends like the internet or social media. So how do you get started with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? A great place with a simple, easy-to-understand starting approach is bitcoin.com. That website shows you step-by-step what to do... A digital wallet is an app. This app holds your digital coins. Usually these wallets are free, and there are many available.

Soon, virtual currency businesses will have to answer to BitLicense. It’s an apt choice of name for a regulatory framework that will govern an industry whose players have included BitPay, BitGo, BitAccess, BitPagos, BitInstant, and BitWall . Companies like those, and others in the bitcoin community (and beyond bitcoin), anxiously await the final version of the policy that Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, has spent nearly a year revising. The policy will require digital currency companies to obtain a license in order to transmit money on behalf of customers. (Former BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem went to prison last month for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting service, among other charges.) New York will be the first state to roll out such a policy, but broad bitcoin regulation has a long way to go in the U.S., where 48 different states have their own set of money-transmitting regulations.