- License grants BitPay authorisation to operate throughout New York
- First wholesale remittance provider to secure the license
- New York “presents significant business opportunities for BitPay
Cryptocurrency cross-border payments processor BitPay has achieved another milestone with a newly granted BitLicense to operate in New York.
The digital currency remittance provider announced on Monday that it had been awarded an eagerly-awaited Virtual Currency License for New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). The coveted license, which is also referred to as a “BitLicense”, grants crypto providers such as BitPay permission to undertake virtual currency-related transactions with commercial enterprises and individual consumers throughout the state of New York.
NYFDS Superintendent Maria Vullo confirmed that BitPay will be authorised to provide clearing and settlement services to merchants who wish to accept or issue remittances in Bitcoin (BTC), meaning that NY businesses can at last use BitPay to make and receive local and international money transfers using BTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
This is a historic moment for the firm: BitPay has now become the first wholesale remittance service to receive this license, joining a continually expanding pool of NYDFS-authorised digital currency firms, which so far include biFlyer USA, Circle International Financial, Coinbase Inc., Genesis Global Trading Inc., Square and Xapo. As matters stand, two rising crypto stars, Gemini Trust Company and Paxos, have been granted NYDFS charters but have yet to secure the highly prized BitLicense authorisation.
Securing the coveted license is by no means a walk in the park. BitPay was obliged to undergo a comprehensive review by the NYDFS, which thoroughly probed its anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, cybersecurity, capitalisation and know your customer policies.
That’s not bad for a company that was only founded seven years ago in 2011. It allows businesses to make and receive international payments with BTC and BCH and lets individual customers manage their digital assets with its BitPay Wallet offering, a feature that allows them to convert digital currencies into US dollars via the BitPay Prepaid Visa Card.
The company’s CEO 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. We believe this hard work will pay off as New York presents significant business opportunities for BitPay.”
BitPay’s ability to directly accept BCH is relatively recent, having been unveiled only a few months ago. BitPay-affiliated merchants, who number 100,000, can use the feature to do business with the steadily expanding pool of BTC users.
For anyone fearful of the notorious volatility of cryptos and the unreliability of earlier money transfer efforts using them, BitPay allays these anxieties with guarantees of zero price fluctuation and secured, instantaneous payments. Merchants who use its platform can accept payments for BCH or BTC and secure daily direct bank deposits for a minimal transaction fee of 1%. And there are no hidden fees to sneak up on users either, there’s free settlement every day.
The volatility problem is dispensed with by letting customers pay their BitPay invoices at a locked-in exchange rate, and then instantaneously converting the BTC or BCH, thereby protecting users from the risk of price fluctuations.
For more news of BitPay’s endeavours, read our recent article here.
