New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) Superintendent Adrienne Harris will step down on October 17, 2025, after four years at the helm of one of the most influential state financial regulators. New York Governor Kathy Hochul confirmed the news on Monday, adding that Kaitlin Asrow, NYDFS Executive Deputy Superintendent of Research and Innovation, will serve as acting head following Harris’s departure.
Harris, who previously served as a White House special assistant under former President Barack Obama, was first appointed acting superintendent in August 2021. She was later confirmed by the New York State Senate in January 2022. During her tenure, she became a prominent figure in shaping the regulatory landscape for digital assets and financial services in New York.
NYDFS has long been at the forefront of crypto regulation, being the first state to introduce specific licensing requirements for digital asset firms with its landmark BitLicense in 2015. Harris emphasized that while the industry had already transformed significantly by 2021, it was necessary to strengthen and expand the regulatory framework. Under her leadership, the agency issued 11 key pieces of guidance, covering areas such as stablecoin regulation, blockchain analytics, and crypto listing standards.
Harris highlighted the department’s growing influence on national policy, noting that both chambers of Congress frequently sought NYDFS’s technical expertise, with several of its recommendations incorporated into ongoing market structure legislation.
Her time in office also saw major enforcement actions, including investigations into stablecoin issuers like Paxos and its Binance-branded token BUSD. Hochul praised Harris for modernizing the regulator, calling her work vital to ensuring New York’s financial system remains strong and globally competitive.
Harris described her tenure as both fast-moving and transformative, thanking her team for advancing regulatory clarity in a rapidly evolving financial sector.
