Florida Set to Create Position to Supervise Crypto Industry

A new position that is poised to oversee the crypto market in the state of Florida is currently being developed. Jimmy Patronis, chief financial officer of Florida, made the announcement on June 26, Cointelegraph reported.

As of now, it’s unknown who will be appointed to the new position of cryptocurrency chief. However, the announcement did outline that the appointee will be working together with the Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) and Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR).

The partnership will supervise the creation of policies, regulation, and legislation that will govern the operations of crypto companies in Florida. These companies are obligated to register with the OFR, and the newly appointed chief will manage them. The state of Florida recognizes the dangers that the crypto industry poses to its constituents, thus it created the position to reduce these risks.

“We cannot allow the cryptocurrency industry to expand in Florida unfettered and unchecked with the potential for so many, including our large population of seniors, to be exploited,” Patronis said. “By taking an active, comprehensive and balanced approach, our state will provide an appropriate level of scrutiny for emerging digital asset technologies. It is absolutely essential that Florida create safeguards to protect our consumers from fraud.”

Senate President-Designate Bill Galvano is in agreement with the creation of this new office, saying that Florida should keep itself ahead in terms of investor protection and new developments that are emerging in this industry. There have been a lot of crypto-related scams sprouting in the U.S., particularly those that involved initial coin offerings (ICO) that are launched by fraudulent startups.

As such, the country has partnered with Canada and launched an initiative called Operation Crypto-Sweep to identify and root out these malicious entities which are luring investors with the promise of low-risk, high-reward investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission is also trying to mitigate the occurrence of crypto-related scams by launching a mock-up that mirrors the design of fraudulent sites.