Why Bitcoin advocates might like New York's new proposed rules for virtual currency

One of New York's top financial regulators is laying out a new policy on Bitcoin and other virtual currencies after a flood of public feedback encouraged the agency to scale back its proposed rules. New revisions to the proposal would trim some requirements on Bitcoin-related businesses, and clarify others.

Among the key changes? Companies covered by the regulations will no longer be required to store the addresses of every person involved in a Bitcoin transaction -- an idea privacy hawks have said would deter people from adopting virtual currencies. Now, companies regulated by New York's so-called BitLicense will only be required to gather transaction information from their own customers, said Ben Lawsky, New York's superintendent of financial services. In addition, covered companies will only have to store that information for seven years, down from the 10 years the department of financial service, was previously considering.