Developments in virtual currency regulation have been top-of-mind with recently announced initiatives from the New York Department of Financial Services. Companies engaging in virtual currency activity should also, however, take note of Louisiana’s enactment of HB701. This law, which takes effect on August 1, 2020, is a broad standalone licensing regime for the regulation of virtual currency activity in the state. While a number of states have addressed virtual currency activity through their money transmission laws, Louisiana now joins New York as the only states to regulate virtual currency activity through a separate licensing law. Taken together, these actions bring some degree of clarity to the regulatory treatment of virtual currency activity—at least in Louisiana and New York.
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