On September 16, the Nevada Financial Institutions Division (NFID) introduced a bill draft request to the Nevada Legislature for the 2023 legislative session. If passed, the bill will adopt the Model Money Transmission Modernization Act (Act) into Nevada’s money transmission law. We previously blogged on the Act here. The language of the bill has not yet been published.

The Act includes an agent of the payee exemption, which not all states have adopted. However, Nevada has adopted an agent of the payee exemption included in Nev. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 671.040.

Moreover, the Act includes provisions on virtual currency and generally requires licensure for businesses engaging in “virtual currency business activity,”[1] unless otherwise exempt. Adopting the Act as written would clarify Nevada’s position on licensing virtual currency businesses. On August 19, 2019, the NFID released a statement on virtual currency that says: “Generally, an entity engaged in the business of selling or issuing checks or of receiving for transmission or transmitting money or credits is required to have a license under NRS 671. However, if an entity proposes to serve as a digital custodian for any form of digital currency, then the business may be regulated as a trust company under NRS Chapter 669. Any entity that facilitates the transmission of or holds fiat or digital currency by way of brick-and-mortar, kiosk, mobile, internet or any other means, should contact the NFID to request a licensure determination.”

Comments may be provided to the committee members once the legislative session begins on February 6, 2023.


[1] “Virtual-currency business activity” means: (1) exchanging, transferring, or storing virtual currency or engaging in virtual currency administration, whether directly or through an agreement with a virtual currency control services vendor; (2) holding electronic precious metals or electronic certificates representing interests in precious metals on behalf of another person or issuing shares or electronic certificates representing interests in precious metals; or (3) exchanging one or more digital representations of value used within one or more online games, game platforms, or family of games for: (a) virtual currency offered by or on behalf of the same publisher from which the original digital representation of value was received; or (b) money or bank credit outside the online game, game platform, or family of games offered by or on behalf of the same publisher from which the original digital representation of value was received.