New York and Wyoming financial regulators have signed an agreement to share information and coordinate licensing, examinations and possible enforcement involving digital-asset businesses operating in their jurisdictions.
The seven-page memorandum of understanding covers companies engaged in virtual-currency and digital-asset activities in either state or both. The New York State Department of Financial Services and Wyoming Division of Banking announced it Thursday.
For a company already licensed or chartered in one state that seeks approval in the other, the existing regulator may provide information to help the second regulator review the application. The agencies will try to align their licensing decisions where their laws and authority allow, but the agreement does not give one state's approval automatic effect in the other.
Experienced firms could receive faster reviews
The agreement sets a more specific process for a company that has operated under one regulator's oversight for at least three years and is not under an enforcement action. If that company applies in the other state, regulators will discuss whether its proposed business models and operations are sufficiently similar.
If they are, the prospective regulator will expedite its review, relying on historical examination records from the existing regulator. It will aim to decide within six months of the application or receipt of those records, whichever is later. The language sets a goal, not a guaranteed deadline or approval.
For businesses applying in both states at the same time, the agencies plan to share summaries of their analyses and coordinate specialized reviews. The agreement also allows joint training, staff consultations and collaboration on supervisory approaches.
Exams, enforcement and confidential records
For firms licensed or chartered by both states, the regulators will try to coordinate examination schedules and conduct joint exams when practical. Neither agency is expected to participate in exams more often than its own law requires. They may issue a joint report or separate coordinated reports and share relevant examination and supervisory records.
The agencies also plan to notify each other when they reasonably believe a jointly regulated firm may face enforcement action. They may share investigative updates and act jointly, in coordination or separately.
Information exchanged under the agreement is generally treated as nonpublic unless the providing agency designates it public. The receiving agency must limit its use to the stated regulatory purpose, protect its confidentiality and generally obtain written consent before disclosing it to others. The agreement includes procedures for subpoenas and public-records demands.
DFS Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow said the arrangement will give regulators additional information as they oversee the virtual-currency market. Wyoming Banking Commissioner Jeremiah Bishop said the two states' cooperation could strengthen supervision.
The agreement does not change either agency's legal powers, create enforceable rights for companies or prevent either regulator from taking its own action. Either state can end it with 30 days' written notice; confidentiality protections for previously shared information would remain in place.
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