Alaska adds ‘virtual currency’ to its money transmission regulatory regime
13:03, 21 December 2022
The US state of Alaska will add the term “virtual currency” to its money transmission regulations from next year.
This means from 1 January 2023, companies who deal with or are in the crypto space will have to obtain a money transmission licence in the state, according to global law firm Cooley.
The definition also establishes that virtual currencies will be included in “permissible investments”.
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The Division of Banking and Securities
Prior to adopting the new rule, the Division of Banking and Securities (DBS), which enforces Alaska’s financial services laws, said it “did not have the jurisdiction to regulate virtual currency activity under its money transmission statute”.
However, companies that were involved in fiat money and virtual currency were “generally required to obtain an Alaska money transmission licence”, and to do this had to enter into a Limited Licensing Agreement (LLA) with the DBS.
From 1 January 2023 the DBS will phase out the LLA requirement, and LLAs in effect will be voided and removed from the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry.
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Alaska’s interest in bitcoin
People living in Alaska are interested in investing in bitcoin (BTC) more than any other cryptocurrency, according to Coin Insider research.
The site analysed Google Trends data to establish the cryptocurrency that residents in each state wanted to invest in the most, based on Google searches.
Coin Insider found that 10 US states, including Alaska, had the greatest interest in BTC.
However, dogecoin (DOGE) was touted as the most searched for crypto in the US, with 23 states searching for DOGE the most on Google.
A spokesperson for Coin Insider said: “This study offers incredible insight into where these investments are coming from across the US, with dogecoin surpassing bitcoin as the most popular cryptocurrency on the internet. It is fascinating to see currencies that may not be the most valuable are still the most sought after.”
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