New York State Delivers BitLicense To BitPay

BitPay has become the eighth firm to receive a BitLicense by the State of New York! After a thorough review of BitPays activity, the New York Department of Financial Services granted a BitLicense to the company. BitLicense is a kind of business license for virtual currencies which will let BitPay receive and send payments from other companies which will let those that hold a license store their digital property in a secure manner as well as issue a new digital currency. The license was first introduced in 2015 and it is used as a means for a legal framework which crypto currencies can operate in. Since 2015, there has only been seven businesses which have been given the licence which makes BitPay the eighth after Square was granted one in June. Other companies which have been granted with a BitLicense include Xapo Inc, bitFlyer USA, Coinbase Inc, Genesis Global Trading Inc., Circle Internet Financial, Paxos and Gemini Trust Company. After hearing the news, the CEO of BitPay, Stephen Pair said:

“New York State has one of the strictest policies around businesses involved in cryptocurrency and working through the approval processes to obtain a license was important to BitPay.

Pair then went on to say:

“We believe this hard work will pay off as New York presents significant business opportunities for BitPay.”

As a worldwide crypto payment processor, BitPay enables users to pay or charge for goods and services in either Bitcoin cash or Bitcoin. After it was founded in 2011, BitPay has stretched its services as one of the leading merchants in the industry on six continents. The DFS have said that they believe BitPay is the first digital currency which is a wholesale payments processor that has been granted with a license by New York State. Maria T. Vullo, Financial Services Superintendent, stated this:

“DFS welcomes BitPay to New York’s expanding and well-regulated virtual currency market. We continue to work to support a vibrant and competitive virtual currency market that connects and empowers New Yorkers in a global marketplace whilst ensuring strong state-regulatory oversight is in place.”

DFS said they conducted an accurate review of BitPay application before they granted them with the BitLicense including BitPays anti-fraud, capitalisation, consumer protection, anti-money laundering and cyber security policies. Despite being granted with a license DFS will be keeping them under supervision for a while.