>The drumbeat of hires crescendoed in November when Ripple, [...] added Ben Lawsky to its board. He earned a tough reputation as New York’s top financial watchdog by pushing banks to scrutinize client transactions for illicit dealings. >[...]Lawsky’s jump to Ripple was particularly notable because he helped pioneer regulation of cryptocurrencies. He introduced the BitLicense, a requirement for digital currency companies that wanted to operate in New York.

What a bunch of white washing. Imagine a parallel universe were the DMCA and the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act made online service providers responsible for the content that their user's posted and being called a "pioneer".

Lawsky rose the specter of unsubstantiated "terrorism" fears to create onerous, outdated, maladapted Bitcoin regulations. Shortly after that he quit his job as a regulator and then setup a firm to collect fees for helping "guide" firms through the regulations he just created. Corruption / rent seeking / anti-competative behavior. Bank lawyers even told Lawsky to shut bitcoin down[1]

[1]https://twitter.com/MarcHochstein/status/922611866848804864