The Bitlicense court case is finally coming to an end soon. Bitcoin entrepreneur and software developer Theo Chino, herein known as the plaintiff and his Lawyer Pierre Ciric of Ciric Law Firm LLC on Friday dropped papers at the New York State Supreme court asking the court to produce two New Yorkers as witnesses.
The individuals involved are Ben Lawsky and Paul Krugman and a few other things from the New York Department of financial services. The hearing is set for March 30, 2017.
Last year the New York Businessman filed a petition with the State Supreme Court alleging that the New York Department of Financial Services acted illegally and arbitrarily, and exceeded its regulatory power when it promulgated its controversial “Virtual Currency” regulation in 2015 – Part 200 of Chapter 1 of Title 23 of the New York Codes, Rules and Regulations.
The claim further affirmed that the Department of Financial Services is acting inappropriately by using Bitcoiners as “guinea pigs”. The suit has come to be known popularly as Article 78 against NYDFS – A lawsuit against the executive branch overreach.
The Attorney General has 15 days to reply to the judge and the plaintiff-Petitioner also has 10 days to respond to the respondent. Theo Chino spoke to The Dash Times:
“This court case seeks to uncover the most appropriate legal framework for defining the Bitcoin token. We believe the correct definition will shed light on the erroneous regulations promulgated by the NYDFS.”
When asked about his expectation and outcome of the case, he was positive and expressed his feelings justice will be done. “The judge assigned to this case is known and respected for her unbiased approach; we are confident that her ruling will be fair,” Chino said to The Dash Times.
Bitlicense’
The Virtual Currency Regulation which has come to be known in the Bitcoin community globally as Bitlicense took the shine away from the Industry in the state of New York. The law increased the costs to a mountainous $5,000 to file an application for a Bitlicense as well as running up to 500 pages of laid down procedures.
There is also the scrutiny of business owner’s personal information including business plans and strategies. Some business owners and experts are of the view that such a procedure will only expose them to hackers.
New York’s Loss
With the inception of the regulation, the state of New York has seen Bitcoin businesses moving to other states where regulation are friendly and less costly. Moreover many Bitcoin small businesses have folded. Case in point is Theo Chino, who had to close down his business because of the burdensome nature of the counterproductive regulation from the authorities of Big Apple.
