After proposing rules last year, New York State’s Department of Financial Services has granted a license to bitcoin exchange itBit, allowing the company to immediately begin accepting US customers. This makes itBit the first and only U.S. licensed and regulated bitcoin exchange as a trust charter company in full compliance with New York and federal law.
“Our mission at itBit has always been to create a trusted, institutional-grade exchange and regulatory compliance is an important pillar of that mission,” said itBit CEO and co-founder Charles Cascarilla.
Considering the vast number of unregulated Bitcoin exchanges that have collapsed, robbed, hacked, and been scammed, itBit’s licensing will add confidence to the fledgling cryptocurrency market. The trust charter is not the BitLicense proposed last year, but appears to come with even stricter rules. It’s the first trust company in New York since the financial crisis of 2008.
itBit also announced they had won $25 million in a Series A round of financing and added more members to its Board of Directors: Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Sheila C. Bair, former Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Company and Robert H. Herz, Chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.
(Photo: Antana)
