Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), is expected to release the official guidelines for New York’s BitLicense in the coming weeks. The licensing rules are designed to regulate bitcoin and other virtual currencies.

In a move to preserve the use of bitcoin in mainstream markets, Lawsky and his team are heavily focusing on consumer protection, business compliance, and security for developers.

“We make it crystal clear that we are not going to regulate software providers or software creators or people doing code,” said Lawsky. “The MIT student has nothing to worry about. We are only regulating financial intermediaries.”

The implementation process has been met with numerous conflicting views from bitcoin advocates and startups. Many feel that such regulations could stifle innovation, which is essential to the long-term growth of the nascent technology.

To cater to the demands of the community, a second BitLicense draft was released in February to ease some of the guidelines that were set forth in the initial version.

In particular, leaders are concerned about the application of anti-money laundering provisions to developers. The need for software updates approval from the NYDFS was also viewed as unrealistic, since most providers roll out changes on a weekly basis.

“If changes to the proposed BitLicense are not made, only a handful of the most well-funded companies will survive — not because they are providing the best product or service, but because they have access to the most money,” highlighted Brian Forde, director of the MIT Digital Currency Initiative.

Lawsky announced he will be departing from his duties as a top financial regulator in June. No word yet on who will replace him.