The New Jersey Senate will consider a new bill that proposes to establish a new mandatory licensing framework for all cryptocurrency companies operating in the state.
On November 5, the Senate introduced a new bill called the “Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology Act” (Bill No. 3132), which was introduced by Democratic Senator Nellie Pou of the 35th Legislative District of New Jersey.
S3132 is currently awaiting submission to the Senate Commerce Committee. The Senate bill was introduced after the same legislation (submitted to the New Jersey State Assembly) earlier this year, which was then submitted to the Congressional Appropriations Committee.
This bill proposes that all digital asset businesses must have been licensed, or at least have submitted a license application, in order to legally conduct business activities with or on behalf of residents of this state.
In addition, if business participants have obtained licenses in other states that have reciprocal agreements with New Jersey, then digital asset business activities can be considered legal in New Jersey.
New Jersey’s license to crypto companies will authorize activities such as issuing digital assets, providing digital asset trading services, lending and lending digital assets, and storing, holding or custody of digital assets on behalf of others. The latter licensing requirement does not include custodian entities that are already regulated in the United States, such as banks, trusts, and broker-dealers.
Any individual or entity who conducts activities without permission or pending permission will be fined $500 per day.
As previously reported, New York is known for its controversial and strict state-level encryption business licensing framework. The New York license is called BitLicense, and this year will be updated for the first time in nearly five years.
