Bitcoin backers want Benjamin Lawsky to slow down when it comes to regulating the controversial digital currency.
The Bitcoin Foundation on Wednesday sent a letter to Lawsky, New York’s top financial regulator, asking for more time to respond to the state’s proposed rules unveiled last month.
The proposal would require companies that exchange or store bitcoins to apply for a so-called “BitLicense” to operate in the Empire State.
Jim Harper, the head of the foundation’s global policy counsel, asked Lawsky to extend the comment period from 45 days to at least six months.
Earlier this week, Lawsky received a separate letter from 400 Bitcoin proponents asking him to extend the comment period.
The Bitcoin Foundation also filed a request under the state’s Freedom of Information Law for “any risk management and cost-benefit analysis” done in preparation of the new rules being proposed by Lawsky’s Department of Financial Services.
“There certainly are risks,” Harper wrote in his letter to Lawsky. “The community would benefit from understanding how your office frames them.”