BitStamp has become the nineteenth entity to be granted a BitLicense by the New York State Department of Financial Service (NYSDFS), allowing it to open up its platform to residents of the state. This means that New Yorker’s will now be able to exchange BTC, LTC, BCH, ETH, and XRP through the company. The award of the license comes on the back of four years of hoop jumping and an estimated $100,000 spent on legal fees.
Plans to Step Up U.S. Operations
BitStamp is the fifth company to be granted what the NYSDFS is now calling a ‘virtual currency license’ this year. Circle was the first to be granted the license, just three months after the bill was introduced in June 2015, whereas BitStamp, who applied at the same time, had to endure almost four years of legal back and forth before the NYSDFS were satisfied.
The awarding of the license will allow BitStamp to make inroads into a market that CEO Nejc Kodrič has admitted they have so far been “passive” in, although they were active in it before the BitLicense bill became law and they were forced to halt operations in the state. The exchange and onramp, which was founded in 2011, has a bigger presence in Europe and already has an EU payment institution license, allowing it to operate in all 28 member countries.
BitStamp Owner’s Sale Set for 2019
In 2019, it was reported that NXC, the business empire that owns BitStamp and three other trading platforms, had put itself up for sale, with Disney, EA, and Activision among those initially mooted as potential buyers. In March the shortlist was revealed, including Tencent, the Chinese internet giant, Kakao Corp, owner of South Korea’s biggest ‘chat’ operator, and three private equity firms. The bidding is due to start this month, with the eventual deal thought to be worth in the region on $15 billion, meaning BitStamp will likely soon have a new parent company.
