Bitcoin Bowl sponsor brings in big name adviser

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Peter Foley

Arthur Levitt Jr.

Margie Manning

Quality and Content Editor- Tampa Bay Business Journal

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The former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has signed on as an adviser to BitPay, the Atlanta-based company that's sponsoring the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl.

Arthur Levitt Jr. will help BitPay blend its business model with core monetary methods and transparency practices to ensure its long-term success, he told American Banker.

Levitt said he would play a similar role at Vaurum, a bitcoin exchange that he's also agreed to advise.

"The fact that so few people in America understand what Bitcoin is made me interested in the possibility of helping define it," he told the New York Times.

BitPay has said it wants to do its part to help grow understanding of Bitcoin, a digital currency, with a brand push to make St. Petersburg Bitcoin-friendly during the bowl season. The Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl is scheduled Dec. 26 at Tropicana Field.

Unknown at this time is whether Levitt will visit St. Petersburg to aid in that push or if he will talk with Florida financial regulators, who have issued consumer alerts about virtual currency. A request for additional information is pending.

As government agencies ranging from the IRS to the SEC begin to take a look at regulations for Bitcoin, in-house experts such as Levitt can help ensure that whatever rules are written will allow for Bitcoin's success, the Times reported.

Margie Manning is Quality and Content Editor of the Tampa Bay Business Journal. She also covers banking, finance and professional services.