Effectively, creditworthy households, businesses, and state and local governments were unable to borrow at reasonable prices, which would have further reduced economic activity. In addition, small and medium-sized businesses that traditionally rely on bank lending faced large increases in their funding needs as they struggled with possible closure or substantially curtailed revenues.
U.S. market regulators have authorities for products judged to be securities or commodity futures under relevant law. At the state level, the New York State Department of Financial Services has  12  See Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, “Guidelines for Enquiries Regarding the Regulatory Framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs),” February 16, 2018, https://www.finma.ch/en/~/media/finma/dokumente/dokumentencenter/myfinma/1bewilligung/fintech/wegleitungico.pdf?la=en. -7established a BitLicense for entities associated with virtual currencies.