Last week eBay Inc. State Government Relations staff spoke to members of the National Conference of State Legislatures during a panel conversation on Mobile Payments and Digital Currencies.  Other panel members included the CEO of the Electronic Transactions Association, a lawyer with Steptoe & Johnson, Policy Director for the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and a researcher with the Cato Institute.  The panel each gave their own unique perspective on payments, mobile payments and the regulatory landscape for payments - both mobile and traditional.

This is the second panel conversation that NCSL has hosted in the past year on mobile payments - an issue of growing interest for state legislators and regulators - in attempt to help public policy makers stay abreast of the changes occurring in the payments industry, the current regulatory regimes that are in place at a state level and the challenges for companies of all sizes when they try to navigate through the regulatory landscape.  eBay and PayPal begun playing a larger role in trying to educate public policy makers on the need for modernizing these state regulatory models so that we can continue to innovate at the pace that our merchants and consumers desire.  At the same time, however, we believe quite strongly in the need to maintain the timeless goals of payments law and regulation, including consumer protection and preventing money laundering and criminal activity from occurring.