New Annual Assessment Fees for Crypto Companies With BitLicenses

Governor Kathy Hochul included new crypto regulation rules in New York after signing the state’s FY2023 budget into law on April 9th. This new rule requires companies holding a BitLicense to pay assessment fees to ensure their compliance with regulations.

This will definitely have a major impact on the cost of running a crypto business in New York.

By signing this FY2023 budget, Hochul is giving the state’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) a “new authority to collect supervisory costs from licensed virtual currency businesses.”

Adriene Harris, the superintendent of the DFS argued that these fees will bring digital currency businesses in line with other licensed businesses in, for example the banking industry, who already pay compliance fees.

Harris stated that “New York was the first to start licensing and supervising virtual currency companies, and we continue to attract more licenses and the most startup funding of any state in the nation.”

New York was the first state to require digital assets to be licensed after the introduction of the well known BitLicense. The application fees for this permit currently stands at $5,000.

Unfortunately, the DFS annual assessment fees for other regulated businesses currently cost businesses tens of thousands of dollars. The same might be the case for crypto businesses.

The DFS states that the fees “will empower the Department to build staff with the capacity and expertise to best regulate and support this rapidly growing industry.”

There are a few businesses that do not fall under the new fees. These companies include businesses that accept crypto as payment, that create crypto software or give crypto advice.