The poorly conceived BitLicense regulation has all but destroyed Bitcoin innovation in New York since it was introduced in June 2015. We can either sit back and wait as regulators around the United States, and the world, start modeling their Bitcoin regulations on the New York example, or we can act. Fortunately, we still have an opportunity to stop the BitLicense regulation and re-energize Bitcoin innovation. If we don’t act now, the choice will be made for us.

Our final opportunity to get New York’s BitLicense regulation thrown out is to support the only legal challenge against it, filed by Theo Chino, a Bitcoin entrepreneur and lifetime member of the Bitcoin Foundation. Chino and his attorney, Pierre Ciric, intend to pursue this challenge over the long haul, almost certainly all the way to New York’s highest court. The first step in this legal process is what is called an Article 78 proceeding, and the essence of Chino’s Article 78 petition, filed in October 2015, is that:

The legislature never gave the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) the authority to regulate Bitcoin, and

The regulation is arbitrary and capricious, and/or an abuse of discretion.

The Bitcoin Foundation has created a special BTC wallet to assist with raising funds for the necessary legal fees to continue challenging these regulations. The Foundation will disburse amounts from this wallet on the presentation of invoices for legal fees incurred in this matter and signed off by Chino.

We may need to raise between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the number of steps involved in the legal process, which means we need your BTCs now more than ever, in order to stop the Bitlicense regulation in its tracks, before it sets a global precedent. This case is scheduled for its next hearing in front of Justice Lucy Billings on Thursday, May 4, 2017. Please donate now to the legal fund in order to move this matter forward.

We need all the funds we can get, as the legal process may be very long and legal fees will stack up quickly.

Please give as much as you can at this address:

32TkdtErKNZKcccNcFynRRCG6WAoY1 ofj9

All contributions are deeply appreciated, though larger contributions of $1,000 and up will go especially far in moving this case forward. Unused funds will be returned pro rata with our thanks.

If you’d like to get in touch with Theo Chino directly about how you can assist with raising awareness for this fight, especially in local and international press, please reach out to him on his website at http://www. article78againstNYDFS.com.

A special thanks to Jim Harper for his assistance with the preparation of this email, based on his excellent summary of the matter.