Diana Uhimov, October 3, 2014. After close to a year of public hearings and other inquiries, on July 21, 2014, the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) proposed a novel comprehensive virtual currency regulatory framework, making New York the first state to take steps to regulate virtual currency businesses.  Virtual currencies are digital representations of value that are utilized as money and can be transferred, stored and traded electronically.  They are not government-backed or pegged to any fiat currency, which is currency that a government has declared to…