We spent a good chunk of this week covering hearings convened by the New York Department of Financial Services on the future of virtual currency regulation.

The state is looking to be the first in the union to issue concrete regulatory guidance on firms that deal in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawksy said the agency would either seek to work within existing statutes, or issue special BitLicenses specifically tailored to Bitcoin businesses. A decision is expected within the next few months.

Whichever way the agency goes, the whole world will be taking note: Lawsky Tweeted the following chart showing the breakdown of countries tuning into the webcast of the hearings.

More than 14,000 unique viewers watched: