New York-based over-the-counter digital currency trading company Genesis Global Trading is the first entity in the state to be granted a BitLicense. It is only the fifth company to receive the license in two years.
Genesis Global Trading specializes in digital currency trading for institutional sellers and buys, as well as high net worth individuals who deal with large sums of cryptocurrency.
In a press release, Genesis Global Trading announced that the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) has approved its application for a BitLicense. With this license, the company will be able to formally broker trading of various cryptocurrencies. These include Bitcoin, Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), and Zcash (ZEC).
Prior to the granting of the BitLicense, Genesis Global Trading operated under a “safe harbor” provision.
CEO Michael Moro says:
We are very pleased that DFS has approved the Genesis Global Trading BitLicense application. Although we have operated under a safe harbor provision in recent years, today’s decision is an important step forward and reaffirms the robust compliance measures we have enacted as an established trading partner.
The industry is not unanimously appreciative of BitLicense. It is, in fact, a controversial regulatory framework that has drawn fire from cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. During the recently held Consensus 2018 Conference. ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees called BitLicense a failure.
.@ErikVoorhees: “Let’s call the Bitlicense what it is, an absolute failure … It should just be removed. Get rid of the #Bitlicense, go back to where you were 4 years ago. That would probably entice us to go back to New York.” 1/2
— David Floyd (@davidfloyd512) May 15, 2018
It is worth noting that ShapeShift halted its operations in New York exactly because of BitLicense.
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