Bitstamp Granted BitLicense, Will Expand Crypto Services in US

Bitstamp, one of Europe's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is looking to expand its U.S. operations, having just been issued New York's latest virtual currency license.

The New York Department of Financial Services awarded Bitstamp the 19th BitLicense Tuesday, allowing the exchange to offer bitcoin, litecoin, bitcoin cash, ether and XRP trading pairs to the state's residents.

Bitstamp first applied for the license in June 2015, when NYDFS created the state's landmark law.

While the regulator only issued a handful of licenses in its first few years, awarding BitLicenses - which NYDFS has recently taken to calling "Virtual currency licenses" instead - appears to be "Becoming more routine to them," Kodrič said.

The CEO likened the approval process to Europe's standards: the exchange already has a payment institution license in the EU, allowing it to operate across all 28 member countries.

"The [BitLicense] is not that much different than our financial services license that we have in Europe," he said.

Now the exchange, which already offers some services within the U.S., is looking to expand its operations.

"We were providing services in the [US] including New York before there were any licenses out there," he said.

While right now the license only allows Bitstamp to offer the five listed cryptocurrencies to U.S. customers, he hinted that this is not a firm limitation.

According to asset manager Bitwise's list of exchanges with legitimate volume, Bitstamp ranks within the top four, though according to CoinMarketCap's list of exchanges by reported volume, it weighs in at number 56.