The battle over the benefits and risks of new financial technology is escalating, in the form of a dust-up between New York state and a Seattle-based virtual currency business that, to the surprise of fintech followers, took the fight public.

The disagreement between regulators at the New York Department of Financial Services and Bittrex Inc., a cryptocurrency exchange, highlights the growing tension between fintech innovators and regulators enforcing rules designed for older, traditional financial institutions.

To at least one lawyer, the case signals a need to establish a single federal regulator of cryptocurrency exchanges.

New York in April denied applications by Bittrex for licenses to run a virtual currency business and to engage in money transmission activity. It also ordered Bittrex, which has been operating in the state since 2015, to stop doing business in New York. Regulators referred to “deficiencies” in Bittrex’s anti-money laundering and bank secrecy compliance, saying they led to a large number of transactions being processed for customers in countries targeted by U.S. economic sanctions, including Iran and North Korea.

Bittrex quickly and publicly replied, saying it “adamantly” disagreed with the department’s claims and allegations that the company said contained numerous factual inaccuracies. Bittrex said it “never had” any North Korean customers and that Iranian customers had been reported to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The company said that it maintained a risk assessment framework that had been approved by outside counsel and that it fully trains all employees in anti-money laundering policies and procedures.