The Bitcoin Foundation has put out a public appeal to raise funds in order to put a stop to what they called “the poorly conceived BitLicense regulation” which they say “has all but destroyed Bitcoin innovation in New York since it was introduced in June 2015.”
The organization said the community can either sit back and wait as regulators around the United States, and the world, start modeling their Bitcoin regulations on the New York example, or action can be taken.
The organization believes there is still an opportunity to stop the BitLicense regulation and re-energize Bitcoin innovation in New York.
As such, the final opportunity to get New York’s BitLicense regulation tossed out is to support the only legal challenge against it, which was filed by Theo Chino, a Bitcoin entrepreneur and lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation.
Chino and his attorney, Pierre Ciric, intend to pursue this challenge over the long run all the way to New York’s highest court.
The first step in this legal process is an Article 78 proceeding, and the nature of Chino’s Article 78 petition, filed back in October 2015, is the following:
- The legislature never gave the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) the authority to regulate Bitcoin.
- The regulation is arbitrary and capricious, and/or an abuse of discretion.
Call to Arms
The non-profit corporation has created a specific BTC wallet to support raising funds for the necessary legal fees to continue challenging the BitLicense regulation. The Bitcoin Foundation will disburse amounts from this wallet on the presentation of invoices for legal fees incurred in this matter and signed off by Mr. Chino.
The foundation says they may need to raise between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the number of steps involved in the legal process, which means that urgency to raise BTCs is more important now than ever, in order to stop the BitLicense regulation in its tracks, before it sets a global precedent as they fear.
This case is scheduled for its next hearing in front of Justice Lucy Billings on Thursday, May 4, 2017, in Manhatten.