The New York Department of Financial Services rejected Seattle-based crypto exchange Bittrex’s application for a BitLicense Wednesday.
In a letter published by NYDFS, the NY regulator explains that a number of factors contributed to the rejection.
“Throughout Bittrex’s application process, the Department worked steadily with Bittrex to address continued deficiencies and to assist Bittrex in developing appropriate controls and compliance programs commensurate with the evolving nature of the sector,” wrote Daniel Sangeap, deputy superintendent and deputy counsel at NYDFS.
The regulator “issued several deficiency letters” since the exchange first submitted an application, addressing Bittrex’s anti-money laundering procedures, Office of Foreign Assets Control compliance and its coin listing process.
However, a number of concerns remained unaddressed, Sangeap wrote.
The letter goes into detail, saying that “Bittrex’s current policies and procedures are either non-existent or inadequate,” questioning the “level of authority and effectiveness of the Compliance Officer,” saying it may have an inadequate training program for employees and raising a number of other issues.
One section of the letter, titled “lack of adequate due diligence in launching tokens or products,” states that examiners from NYDFS were “unable to assess compliance” with the exchange’s own token review policy when looking at a random sample of 15 cryptocurrencies.
“This was due to the fact that partial files were provided to the examiners, and moreover, actual compliance in certain files could not be established,” Sangeap said. Some tokens were listed despite some applicants refusing to complete the necessary paperwork – “and in one case … there was no application on file at all.”
The exchange offers more than 200 cryptocurrencies to its customers, including through an OTC trading desk launched earlier this year.
Bittrex has 14 days to confirm to NYDFS that the exchange has ceased conducting business in New York and create a plan to wind down any existing business with state residents.
The exchange will have 60 days in total to transfer any assets it custodies for New York residents and transfer any positions or transactions.
This is a developing story. CoinDesk will continue to monitor and update.
Image of Kiran Raj, Chief Strategy Officer at Bittrex, via CoinDesk archives
