Bill > S00359

This bill amends the penal law to establish the offenses of virtual token fraud, illegal rug pulls, private key fraud, and fraudulent failure to disclose interest in virtual tokens. Key provisions include: - Defining terms like "virtual tokens", "security tokens", "stablecoins", "developer", "blockchain", and "private key" related to the cryptocurrency industry. - Imposing civil fines of up to $5 million or 20 years imprisonment, or fines up to $25 million for non-natural persons, for violations of the new offenses. - Criminalizing deceptive or fraudulent practices related to the purchase, sale, exchange, transfer, offering, storage, or destruction of virtual tokens. - Prohibiting developers from selling more than 10% of a virtual token class within 5 years, with exceptions for small non-fungible token projects. - Making it illegal to obtain, disclose, or misuse another person's private key without their affirmative consent. - Requiring developers to publicly disclose the number of virtual tokens they own in the class they developed. The bill aims to address various forms of cryptocurrency-related fraud and provide enhanced consumer protections in this emerging financial sector.