New York: Crypto Task Force and Legislation

Task force: ConcludedReserve: None foundKiosks: Bill only

Task force or study body Reported

New York State Digital Currency Task Force · Concluded

• Created by: Chapter 456 of the Laws of 2018 (Assembly Bill A8783-B / Senate S9013, sponsor Assemblymember Clyde Vanel); passed Senate 62-0 on 2018-06-19; delivered to Governor 2018-12-11; signed 2018-12-21 (Approval Memo 14).
• Organized by: Created by the Legislature/Governor; members appointed by the Governor, Senate temporary president, Assembly speaker, and both minority leaders per the bill text.
• Led by: No chair identified in sources found. Assemblymember Clyde Vanel (sponsor; chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Internet and New Technologies) announced the first appointments (source: Cointelegraph regional report on the July 2019 appointments).
• Members: Per bill text (A8783-B): nine members (3 Governor, 2 Senate temp. president, 2 Assembly speaker, 1 each minority leader). A July 22, 2019 report says six were appointed by the Assembly side: Joseph Lubin (Ethereum co-founder), Sandra Ro (Global Blockchain Business Council), Yaya Fanusie (Foundation for Defense of Democracies), Yorke Rhodes (Microsoft blockchain), Ryan Zagonne (Ripple), and Aaron Wright (Cardozo Law). That report describes a 13-member body, which conflicts with the nine-member text; treat the member list as Reported only.
• Outputs and timeline: Statute required a report to the Governor, Senate and Assembly leaders by December 15, 2020 and repealed the act on that date. No report was found in searches.

Sources: A8783-B bill text (nysenate.gov), NY Senate bill page A8783 - signed as Chapter 456, Dec 21, 2018, NY Senate S9013 (Senate same-as) - status, Cointelegraph - task force appoints members (secondary, July 2019), The Block - NY first state to create a crypto task force (secondary, Jan 2, 2019)

A later proposal, S4728A (2025, Sen. James Sanders Jr.; 'New York state cryptocurrency and blockchain study act') would have created a 16-member task force within DFS reporting by Dec 15, 2027. The Legislature passed it, but per the NY Senate bill page it was vetoed by the Governor on December 5, 2025 (veto memo 62), so no such task force exists. A similar earlier bill A954 (2023-24, Vanel) was referred to committee. Because the 2018 task force's statutory life ended Dec 15, 2020 and no report was found, 'concluded' is an inference; its actual meeting history is unverified (Unclear). Reference links: S4728A (2025) - vetoed Dec 5, 2025 - https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S4728; A954 (2023) - Vanel study act text - https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2023/a954

Bitcoin or digital asset reserve law Reported

No New York bitcoin/digital-asset reserve or state-fund investment law or bill identified. A tracker lists four NY crypto bills (A6515, A7716, A7788, S4728); on review of the NY Senate pages these concern crypto fraud offenses (A6515A), blockchain for elections (A7716), state agencies accepting crypto payments (A7788, in committee), and the study task force (S4728A, vetoed), none of which is a reserve. Search was not exhaustive.

Sources: A7788 (2025) - agencies accepting crypto payments, in committee, A6515A (2025) - crypto fraud offenses, in committee, BitcoinLaws NY tracker (secondary; lists bill numbers only)

Licensing Confirmed

NY regulates virtual currency businesses through DFS's BitLicense, 23 NYCRR Part 200 (issued June 2015), which requires a license for five activities (transmitting, custody, customer buying/selling, exchange services, controlling/issuing virtual currency) involving New York or New Yorkers; mining, personal investing, merchants and pure software development are not covered. A BitLicense does not replace a Banking Law money transmitter license for fiat, and a limited-purpose trust charter is an alternative path. DFS issued updated customer-custody guidance on Sept. 30, 2025. NY has not adopted the UVCBA.

Sources: NYDFS - Virtual Currency page, NY State Comptroller - Virtual Currency Licensing audit follow-up (Dec 4, 2025)

Crypto kiosks (ATMs) Confirmed

No NY kiosk-specific statute enacted as of the pages read. S9891-B (Sens. Sanders and Cleare; Assembly same-as A10899-C, Vanel) would add Banking Law Art. 2-AAA to license kiosk and cashier-crypto operators, cap transactions at $1,000 per 24 hours and $10,000 per 30 days, cap fees at the greater of $5 or 3%, require a 72-hour hold on first/large transactions with refund rights, scam warnings, live customer service, and blockchain analytics. It passed the Senate 59-2 on June 3, 2026 and was referred to Assembly Codes June 4; A10899-C was in the Assembly Rules Committee. Takes effect 180 days after enactment. Status as of fetch on 2026-11-02; no governor action found.

Sources: NY Senate - S9891 (status/actions), S9891-B text, A10899-C text

Other 2025 to 2026 actions

• 2025-12-05: Governor vetoed S4728A, the legislature-passed 'cryptocurrency and blockchain study act' creating a DFS-based study task force (veto memo 62).
• 2025-09-30: DFS issued updated guidance on custodial structures for protecting customer virtual currency in insolvency, superseding January 2023 guidance; DFS also granted new crypto licenses/charters in 2025-2026 (e.g., MoonPay, Bullish US, Circle New York Trust in July 2026).
• 2026-04-29 to 2026-10-22: Attorney General's press-release listing shows crypto enforcement items in 2026, including a $5M+ recovery from a crypto platform (Apr 29), a ban of a former crypto CEO from the financial industry (Oct 9), and nearly $6M from crypto scammers targeting Haitian communities (Oct 22). Individual release URLs were not opened; cited via the bureau listing page.

Sources: NY Senate - S4728, NYDFS - Virtual Currency page, NY AG press-release listing (bureau 170)

Source notes: 2018 task force status inferred from sunset date; no evidence of reports or meetings. Kiosk bill status is a snapshot as of 2026-11-02 and the Assembly bill page did not show an action history. The 2019 member list conflicts with the statutory nine-member size.