New York State Department of Financial Services Hires Virtual Currency Chief

Peter Marton has become the new virtual currency chief for the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), Marton announced on LinkedIn Wednesday (Jan. 5).

The NYDFS has been trying to fill the role for a while now. The position resides in the research and innovation division, and has a focus on virtual and digital currencies, blockchain, distributed ledger tech and other innovative and derivative products and technology, the job posting says.

“A lot more to come,” Marton wrote. “In the meanwhile, if you have an interest in public service in this space, please reach out!”

In addition, he wrote recently that crypto supervision “should be a marathon not a sprint, and I look forward … to continue this effort in earnest.”

Marton has a background with the Premontory Financial Group, where he worked for six and a half years as the group’s director of digital assets, among other roles.

NYDFS regulates financial services and products, encompassing those subject to New York’s insurance, banking and financial services laws. That department created the New York BitLicense, which is a required feature for businesses working with crypto in the state.

Cryptocurrency has been seeing a large amount of new regulations in recent years across the entire global finance field. One of those came from Estonia, where new draft legislation wouldn’t ban customers from owning or trading crypto — though it could add to capital requirements for decentralized wallet creators.

See also: Estonia Won’t Ban Crypto in New Virtual Asset Service Provider Legislation

Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, the Estonian Minister of Finance, said the bill was intended to strengthen anti-money laundering (AML) requirements for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). That counts particularly when it comes to making anonymous accounts.

The bill, if it passes, will make it so Estonian VASPs will have to identify their customers when offering accounts or wallets.

Pentus-Rosimannus said the legislation “does not contain any measures to ban customers from owning and trading virtual assets and does not in any way require customers to share their private keys to wallets.”