Bitcoin company ditches New York, blaming new regulations …

June 11, 2015, 4:43 PM EDT E-mail Tweet Facebook Google Plus Linkedin Share icons

Its been barely a week since the BitLicense was released, and it has already driven a bitcoin startup out of New York.

ShapeShift.io, a bitcoin startup that allows people to quickly exchange digital currencies without an account or arduous signup process, has completely cut off service to New York in response to the states new regulatory policy for digital currency businesses. The BitLicense, which was finalized last week, sparked fear among the bitcoin community during its revision process over the past year, and now that it is out, has courted criticism for the various licenses and approvals it requires of companies that store and transmit money for customers. It is seen as too stringent and restrictive of innovation.

The BitLicense backlash began last week with official statements and responses from bitcoin startup executives as well as policy pundits. ShapeShift is the first business to promptly get out of dodge in response to the policy. (Bitcoin wallet provider Xapo moved its headquarters to Switzerland last month, but stated that it was not out of fear of regulation.)

The company has suspended service to all users in New York State, and is redirecting its homepage for Internet visitors there to PleaseProtectConsumers.org, with a long note about the issue of identity theft and how bitcoin and the blockchain can prevent it.

A blunt passage toward the end of the text reads: Bitcoin and blockchain technology have enabled a new standard of financial privacy and consumer protection Unfortunately, in spite of the technological achievements that now protect consumers, some jurisdictions have legally mandated the continued extraction of sensitive private information. Then it lists those jurisdictions; they are New York State and North Korea. That likely isnt the company, in terms of privacy law, New York wants to keep. ShapeShift is inviting other digital currency companies to do the same: cut off service to New York and redirect its web site there to the PleaseProtectConsumers page.

It is quite a statement by a buzzy startup and a big name in the bitcoin community.

While Shapeshift has so far raised only a seed round of just under $1 million from Roger Ver (nicknamed Bitcoin Jesus) and Barry Silbert (founder of the Digital Currency Group), CEO Erik Voorhees is a widely followed voice in the digital currency world who founded Coinapult and worked at BitInstant. Vorhees founded ShapeShift and ran it using an alias at first until he came out as its CEO in March.

When the Bitlicense was announced last week, Voorhees tweeted that California is winning. ShapeShift investor Roger Ver, meanwhile, tweeted a longer screed:

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