Developments in the Laws Affecting Electronic Payments and Financial Services

Abstract

This short article surveys developments in the law affecting electronic payments and financial services from June 1, 2017 to June 1, 2018. During this period, significant developments occurred that affected the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s proposal to issue “special purpose national bank charters” to FinTech companies, the CFPB’s final regulation of prepaid, general-purpose cards, state regulation of payroll cards, and how lawyers taking cryptocurrencies from clients as payment for services or for safekeeping should protect them. The survey also presents newly issued BitLicenses under the New York Department of Financial Services’ 2015 “BitLicense” regulation.