At the risk of offending the anarchists, this regulation is a major step forward for bitcoin. It will provide a LEGAL framework and guideline for business in NY to accept bitcoin without fear of prosecution, it is significant progress to popularize the acceptance of bitcoin. And even more important, it will provide a blueprint for other states to follow once they see how NY - the financial capital, has regulated bitcoin.
As much as you all like to tell the government to fuck off, the reality is we (well most of us) still live within a complex world governed by law and regulations. Large business in this country will not widely accept bitcoins until the government tells them it is okie.
So i view this as progress and a major step forward for bitcoin.
This is where you are entirely wrong and have fallen into the illusion propagated by regulators that they make laws.
They are glorified policeman, they interpret and enforce the laws, with increasing arbitrariness and capriciousness.
Lawsky is a cop.
Legislature and the courts make the laws, not the cops.
The "legal framework" you seek has to come from the people and their representatives in power and justice system, not from the foot soldiers of the powerful and the banksters who have infiltrated every level of the bureaucracy.
Jamie Dimon was crystal clear, he wants bitcoin regulated into irrelevancy. I don't know which one of you missed that comment and still 'welcomes' bitcoin regulation.
The craven politicians and judges have to step up and be brave ... are they really prepared to license bits? Are they really going to sanction the financial totalitarianism desired by their paymasters?
You are missing the entire point, no member of congress will take that kind of political risk and introduce a bill on bitcoin, not until AFTER it is popular and widely used with strong public backing.
But in order to get to that step, business both large and small need guideline from the government whether federal or state to provide the confidence, the regulation they are trying to introduce in ny is an important first step to provide that confidence and roadmap for business to start accepting bitcoins. The laws will come only later, you need to walk before you can run.
And i completely disagree that you can "regulate bitcoin into irrelevancy" short of a outright ban which noone is suggesting in the usa. It is by design anonymous with significant advantage over fiat for online payments/money transport. What regulation will do is allow business and banks to accept bitcoins, and legit broker dealers to start trading it. Those need to be regulated, and that's fine.
You already see what damage shady exchanges like mtgox can do to bitcoins. I have said this back in 2011 and i will say again, a stable legit exchange between bticoin and fiat is the single most important factor for bitcoin to gain popularity, we need big players like interactive broker and oanda to add bitcoins. None of this can happen without above mentioned regulations.
So if you truly want bitcoin to gain popularity and become the defacto global currency, you need to welcome regulation, because the world is run by governments and regulations (sorry to break reality to you). Otherwise bitcoin will only exist in the shadows with shady basement dealers/exchanges that go under every few months.