Bitcoin Daily: Deribit Crypto Exchange Flees Netherlands’ Tight Regulation; Illinois Now Recognizes Blockchain Contracts As Legally Binding

Deribit, a popular global cryptocurrency options exchange, is moving to Panama in February to sidestep the Netherlands’ upcoming regulation changes on the industry, according to Bloomberg. The Netherlands is going to start using new EU regulations that the company said will “mean that we have to demand an extensive amount of information from our current and future customers.”

On another note, Illinois has become the most recent state to recognize blockchain-based records, including smart contracts, as legal, according to CoinDesk. Illinois’s Blockchain Technology Act went into effect on Jan. 1, and was sponsored by Representative Keith Wheeler. The move allows for a whole new bevy of blockchain-based legal contracts, which will be able to be used for official purposes like court.

“A smart contract, record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because a blockchain was used to create, store or verify the smart contract, record or signature,” the law states.

In other news, blockchain compliance startup Securrency has received $17.65 million in a Series A funding round, led by WisdomTree. Other investors in the round include Japanese financial services giant Monex Group, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) and venture capital firms RRE Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures and Panthera Capital Investments.

WisdomTree CEO and Founder Jonathan Steinberg told CoinDesk that his company gave about $8 million. The investment was done because of Securrency’s focused bitcoin tech use.

“The financial services industry is created explicitly around Know Your Customer and anti-money laundering, and these are not going to be softened,” Steinberg said. “Know Your Customer is literally the foundation of regulated financial services.”

Finally, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he thinks crypto organizations licensed by the Financial Services Law (FSL) should pay for the expenses related to regulatory oversight. The governor wants the proper authorities to amend the FSL so that the crypto organizations will have to pay for oversight handled by the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS).

“Under current law, supervised entities that are licensed under the Insurance Law or Banking Law are required to pay assessments to DFS to cover the cost of examination and oversight. Entities licensed under the FSL (e.g. virtual currency entities) are not required to pay such assessments, despite being subject to similar examination and oversight requirements. The governor proposes to amend the FSL to place such entities on an even footing with other financial services companies,” Cuomo wrote according to reports.