The New York State Department of Financial Services or DFS granted virtual currency license, known as a BitLicense, to Bitstamp USA Inc., a unit of European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp Ltd.
The latest approval expands New York’s virtual currency market, providing more competition and choice for consumers across the State, DFS said in a statement.
With the authorization, Bitstamp USA can offer services to its customers, including buying and selling bitcoin, along with certain select virtual currencies, for US dollar and vice versa.
Bitstamp USA is also authorized to facilitate transfers of funds onto the Ripple Network, issuing Ripple Balances in US dollar, other virtual currencies, and select fiat currencies. These include the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen.
Bitstamp Europe SA reportedly was granted a payment institution license in 2016, authorizing its operations across all 28 EU countries.
The state had introduced BitLicense in 2015 to support crypto customers following many incidents of Bitcoin exchanges getting hacked and people losing their holdings. This is the 19th BitLicense application that the DFS is granting since the initiation.
Recently, DFS granted BitLicense to institutional-grade cryptocurrency trading platform Tagomi Trading LLC as well as Crypto trading app Robinhood Crypto LLC.
