Before three years ago, as per reports Bitstamp has applied for the BitLicense. Nejc Kodrič, CEO of Bitstamp believed in getting a license is essential for a Bitcoin Exchange. In contrast, other firms like Bitfinex, Kraken, and Shapeshift decided to stop doing business in the Newyork.
Bitstamp, which is one of the leading Cryptocurrency Exchanges in Europe, is planning to expand its services in the US after the firm has been issued New York's latest virtual currency license.
The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has granted Bitstamp 19th BitLicense on Tuesday. This license will enable the exchange to provide bitcoin, litecoin, bitcoin cash, ether and XRP trading pair to the state's residents.
The regulator has provided very few licenses in the first five years, granting BitLicenses, which is now referred to as “virtual currency licenses” instead appears to be more routine to them, Kodrič said. He added, “This year we are the [fifth] that was granted so I guess the pace is picking up.”
In order to reach this point, Bitstamp have discussed various different aspects of exchange's operation, Kodrič said, stating:
“There were questions all around how the matching engine works, how we store crypto, how we [conduct] audits. The license is a set of rules and procedures you have to follow on a daily basis, so once you do that you can [receive a BitLicense].”
As per Reuters, Bitstamp Europe SA was awarded payment institution license way back in 2016, after which Bitstamp licensed its operation in all 28 EU countries.
Nejc Kodrič stated, “The [BitLicense] is not that much different than our financial services license that we have in Europe,” he said. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel.”
The review of the BitLicense involves a deep examination into a firm's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance and anti-fraud, capitalization and cybersecurity policies.
Currently, the exchange provides only some services in the US is looking forward to expand its operations in the US. Kodrič said that the firm is only fully functional in Europe till date, and was "passive" until now in America.
Bitstamp has started its operations in the US before the BitLicense was granted, and therefore it has some presence in the country.
He said, “We were providing services in the [US] including New York before there were any licenses out there." “We have many customers from the States, but we plan on going more active.”
Currently, the License enables Bit stamp will only provide above listed 5 Cryptocurrencies to the US customers, however, this is not a limitation. BitLicense will take some time to enable new crypto's to make to the list of approved currencies.
