By Jonathan Sorkowitz ( May 9, 2018, 4:40 PM EDT) -- The office of the New York State Attorney General has opened a second regulatory front for cryptocurrency firms doing business in New York. On April 17, the attorney general's office sent letters to 13 leading crypto exchanges requesting wide-ranging disclosures about their business practices, asserting the AG's authority to protect investors, investigate, and sue over deceptive and unfair practices. Previously, in 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services issued first-in-the-nation regulations unofficially known as the "BitLicense" rule. The regulations required licensure of virtual currency firms, like cryptocurrency exchanges or companies that hold customer funds in virtual currencies. The BitLicense regulations were meant to vet businesses for stability and integrity as a condition precedent to operation, impose capital controls, and provide for disclosures. If cryptocurrency exchanges and other businesses subject to the BitLicense regulations believed that procuring a license through DFS would protect them from any further scrutiny by New York government, it appears they were wrong....