In a blog post on Wednesday, Zac Prince, updated about the extended deadline to stop offering its BlockFi Interest Account (BIA) in the state to September 2. BlockFi then tweeted that the postponement followed ongoing talks between BlockFi and NJ BOS “to provide more details about the BIA.”
The state’s attorney general originally filed a cease and desist against the company on July 19, demanding that new BIAs, which promise up to 7.5% annual returns on deposited crypto, cease by July 22. Then on 22nd July, NJBOS had given BlockFi an extra week before its ban.
BlockFi is facing similar inspections of its interest-bearing crypto accounts from Texas and Alabama. In its tweet, BlockFi said it is in “active dialogue with multiple regulators” regarding its BIAs.
In the blog post, Zac portrayed it as potentially good news: “We’ve said time and again that the key to our industry’s success is appropriate regulation. Ultimately, we see this as an opportunity for BlockFi to help define the regulatory environment for our ecosystem.”
NJ BOS has argued that BIA amounts to unregistered securities, while BlockFi has said that they are not.
“We firmly believe that the BIA is lawful and appropriate for crypto market participants, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to fight for consumers’ rights to earn interest on their crypto assets,” BlockFi wrote in its tweet on Wednesday.
Zac prince reassured that the ban had no impact on current BIA clients or any other BlockFi products.
