Washington's New Cryptocurrency Exchange Rules Are Now in Effect

New regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges have gone into effect in the U.S. state of Washington.

Following the passing of Senate Bill 5031 into law at the weekend, the state's money transmitter laws now apply to exchanges, meaning that they need to obtain a license from the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and must provide a third-party audit of their data systems.

Among other requirements, the law also mandates a new transmitter bond requirement, with the figure being tied to the amount of currency exchanged during the previous year.

Lawmakers finalized the measure in April, sending it to the desk of Gov. Jay Inslee, who signed it days after work on the bill was completed. According to public records, the law went into effect on Sunday, July 23.

As CoinDesk has previously reported, lawmakers in the western U.S. state have been working since January to develop regulations for exchange startups.

The bill's passage wasn't without controversy, however. Cryptocurrency exchanges Poloniex and Bitfinex declared that they would would stop serving customers there, citing the new regulations.

At the same time, startups such as New York-based exchange Gemini moved in the opposite direction, obtaining approval to begin serving customers in the state earlier this year.

Washington State Capitol image via Shutterstock