New York Senate Confirms New Top Financial Regulator

The New York Department of Financial Services officially has a caller head.

The authorities Senate confirmed Adrienne Harris, a erstwhile national authoritative and professor, to tally the Wall Street regulator connected Tuesday. Harris has been serving arsenic the acting Superintendent of NYDFS since her nomination successful August 2021.

Harris was a peculiar adjunct to the Barack Obama White House connected economical policy, arsenic good arsenic a elder advisor to then-Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sarah Bloom Raskin, presently a nominee to beryllium Vice Chair for Supervision astatine the Federal Reserve. She was besides precocious connected the committee of the Digital Dollar Foundation, an advocacy radical launched by erstwhile Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Chris Giancarlo and erstwhile LabCFTC caput Daniel Gorfine.

In a statement pursuing her confirmation, Harris thanked New York Governor Kathy Hochul for her information and the Senate for confirming her.

"I americium honored to service arsenic the Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services. As the archetypal African American pistillate to pb DFS, I americium personally committed to moving with each stakeholders to physique a robust, just and sustainable fiscal system, creating a amended economical aboriginal for each New Yorkers," she said.

During a information proceeding earlier the authorities Senate Finance Committee connected Monday, Harris said she hoped to bolster the regulator’s BitLicense squad to wide a backlog of applications for New York’s landmark virtual currency license.

“One of the things I person done is undertake a reappraisal of that portion and spot what’s causing that backlog,” she said successful effect to a question from Senator Diane Savino.

Savino besides asked if Harris supported a measure that would alteration NYDFS to cod assessments from the virtual currency companies it regulates, noting that the entity is not funded by the state. Harris said she would.

“Cryptocurrency is present to enactment but the hazard of anti-money laundering, consumers, for cyber are incredibly precocious truthful we request existent rigor,” Harris said.

Matt Homer, a erstwhile elder authoritative astatine NYDFS and presently an executive-in-residence with Nyca Partners, told CoinDesk aft the proceeding that her responses during her proceeding amusement “she’s superbly qualified to service arsenic Superintendent.”

“She has heavy expertise that cuts crossed the fiscal services scenery and highly applicable anterior acquisition from the Obama White House and Treasury Department, arsenic good arsenic the backstage sector,” helium said.

Harris said she wants NYDFS to person much resources crossed the committee to oversee crypto, fintech and fiscal services astatine large. Crypto successful peculiar is continually evolving, she said.

“It is rapidly evolving. Even though we've had the BitLicense since 2015, it didn’t relationship for things similar stablecoins … there's ever much we tin do,” Harris said.

UPDATE (Jan. 25, 2022, 22:07 UTC): Adds connection from Harris.