As the superintendent of New York’s Department of Financial Services, Adrienne Harris carved out a name for herself as a forward-thinking regulator who created a national presence for her small supervisory agency during an era of bank collapses and crypto meltdowns. Now, she is moving on.
On Monday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced Harris’s departure, effective in October, ending a four-year tenure for the former Obama administration official. In a press release, Hochul touted Harris’s role in “rebuilding the Department into a regulator fit for the financial capital of the world.”
The U.S. financial landscape has changed dramatically since Hochul nominated Harris to lead the DFS in August 2021. Following her appointment, a series of bankruptcies in the blockchain industry led to billions of dollars in losses for investors, and the failure of banks Silvergate and Signature threatened the broader U.S. financial system.
Though Harris would join Biden administration agencies, including Gary Gensler’s Securities and Exchange Commission, in handing down enforcement actions against leading companies such as Coinbase and Genesis, she also advanced regulation around technology such as stablecoin issuance on blockchains like Ethereum and Solana—a stark difference from her federal counterparts who became notorious in the crypto world for “regulation by enforcement.” Harris also extended her department’s issuance of the BitLicense program, at the time the only crypto regulatory system in the country.
Harris’s willingness to wade into the thorny sector when many other financial supervisors relied solely on lawsuits won her the begrudging respect of many blockchain entrepreneurs, though they still grumbled about the laborious process of applying for BitLicenses, as well as the onerous requirements. As Congress debated legislation to create guardrails for stablecoins, ultimately passing the Genius Act in July, Harris’s model in New York was frequently held up as a model that should be followed. It also spurred debate about how states should maintain autonomy under a federal oversight scheme, with Harris herself testifying before Congress.
But after Donald Trump embraced crypto on the campaign trail, his return to office in January diminished Harris’s national profile, especially as he upended the federal government’s approach to blockchain regulation. The DFS continued to issue new guidance around blockchain, as well as other frontier technologies including artificial intelligence, though its incremental approach paled in comparison to the Trump administration’s blitz of new initiatives.
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Harris said that she plans to take time off before finding her next gig. “My checking account will tell me how much time I get,” she joked.
Hochul announced that Kaitlin Asrow, who spent the past four years as the executive deputy superintendent of the research & innovation division at the DFS, will serve as the interim superintendent after Harris departs. In her role, Asrow oversaw the department’s regulation of blockchain companies, whose staff grew by 60 over the past four years. In a statement, Asrow said she would prioritize consumer protection while ensuring that New York remained a hub for “responsible financial innovation.”
