{ "jurisdiction_id": "US-PA", "jurisdiction": "United States – Pennsylvania", "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/", "generator": "render_jid v13.3.0", "date_modified": "2026-08-17", "schema_version": "crypto-v2.0.0", "counts": { "modules": 8, "sourced_findings": 14, "source_register": 8 }, "modules": [ { "code": "crypto_licensing", "name": "Crypto Licensing", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#crypto-licensing-crypto-licensing", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania has no bespoke crypto-asset licensing statute. Crypto exchange, custody and transmission activity is assessed under the state's general Money Transmission Business Licensing Law, administered by the Department of Banking and Securities (DoBS). In 2019 DoBS issued guidance holding that crypto exchanges which never directly handle fiat currency (transacting instead through bank-account transfers) are not 'money transmitters' and therefore fall outside the licensing requirement, since virtual currency is not 'money' under the statute. Businesses that do directly accept and transmit fiat currency for a fee in connection with crypto activity remain within the general MTL regime, licensed via NMLS. No update to this 2019 position has been identified as of the current run date.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "token_classification", "name": "Token Classification", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#token-classification-token-classification", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania has not codified its own token taxonomy. Per the disambiguation seed, characterisation of a given token as a security, commodity, stablecoin or other instrument is governed by federal SEC/CFTC frameworks rather than state law, and applies uniformly within Pennsylvania absent any state override.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "on_chain_activity_regime", "name": "On-Chain Activity Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#on-chain-activity-regime-on-chain-activity-regime", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania has no bespoke licensing or permitting regime specific to staking, DeFi/DEX activity, node operation, validation, or tokenization. The only on-chain activity to draw dedicated legislative attention has been bitcoin mining: a 2023 proposal to ban crypto mining, folded into an energy-conservation bill, was scrapped by its sponsor before the bill advanced, leaving mining without a state-level prohibition (subject only to general environmental/energy permitting for power-generation facilities).", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "stablecoin_regime", "name": "Stablecoin Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#stablecoin-regime-stablecoin-regime", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania has no state-specific stablecoin-issuance, reserve, redemption, disclosure, or systemic-designation regime. Stablecoin issuance authorisation and reserve/redemption standards are governed federally under the GENIUS Act, which applies within Pennsylvania in the absence of any state override.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "consumer_protection", "name": "Consumer Protection", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#consumer-protection-consumer-protection", "standing_position": "General Pennsylvania consumer-protection law applies to crypto activity in the absence of crypto-specific rules. House Bill 2481 ('Bitcoin Rights'), which would clarify residents' rights to self-custody digital assets alongside bitcoin-payment and taxation guidance, passed the Pennsylvania House in October 2024 by a 176-26 vote but had not been confirmed as enacted into law by the Senate as of the current run date, leaving self-custody protections in a proposed, non-binding state.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "tax_treatment", "name": "Tax Treatment", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#tax-treatment-tax-treatment", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania has not enacted crypto-specific tax legislation; digital assets are taxed under general state personal income tax rules layered on top of the federal property-based tax treatment (IRS treats crypto as property, giving rise to capital gains/loss on disposition and ordinary income treatment for staking/mining rewards). House Bill 2481 included proposed guidelines for taxing bitcoin transactions, but this provision had not been confirmed enacted as of the current run date.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null }, { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "cross_border_transfer", "name": "Cross-Border Transfer", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#cross-border-transfer-cross-border-transfer", "standing_position": "Pennsylvania imposes no state-specific outbound restriction, reporting threshold, or cross-border travel-rule regime on crypto transfers. Cross-border crypto transfers originating from or destined to Pennsylvania are governed exclusively by federal sanctions (OFAC) and BSA/FinCEN cross-border reporting frameworks, with no Pennsylvania overlay identified.", "findings": [ { "finding": null, "instrument_type": null, "source": null, "source_url": null, "source_tier": null, "retrieved_at": null } ] }, { "code": "aml_cft_regime", "name": "AML/CFT Regime", "confidence": null, "moved_this_cycle": false, "url": "https://cryptoassets.gi/jurisdictions/united-states-pennsylvania/#aml-cft-regime-aml-cft-regime", "standing_position": "AML/CFT obligations for crypto businesses in Pennsylvania (KYC/CDD, travel rule, SAR/STR reporting, sanctions screening, record-keeping, risk assessment) are addressed at the fleet level under the crypto consumer's subscription to the Financial Integrity Module (FIM) aml_ctf baseline (federal BSA/FinCEN regime). Per station doctrine, this baseline does not independently produce aml_ctf/aml_cft claims; any AML-relevant material surfaced during Pennsylvania research is disambiguation context only and is not duplicated here.", "findings": [] } ] }