Late last week, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) granted the DFS BitLicense to Robinhood Crypto LLC and Moon Inc., dba LibertyX. DFS authorized Robinhood Crypto LLC to buy, sell and store seven different virtual currencies, while LibertyX will be the first DFS licensee to allow customers to use debit cards to purchase bitcoins from traditional ATMs. DFS also recently granted a BitLicense to Bitcoin ATM operator Cottonwood Vending LLC. This week also brought two significant announcements from the R3 consortium, with the global payments network SWIFT and a major Japanese financial services firm both announcing plans to integrate with R3's Corda blockchain payments platform.
A Forbes article this week revealed that a major U.S. stock exchange has sold its transaction surveillance technology to seven major cryptocurrency exchanges that intend to use the tech to detect and prevent fraud and market manipulation. One of those cryptocurrency exchanges, Gemini, announced this week that it successfully passed an SOC 2 Type 1 review performed by a Big Four auditing firm. SOC 2 reviews are used to demonstrate security in protecting customer data and funds.
According to Bloomberg, a major U.S. financial services firm is planning to launch an institutional bitcoin custody service as early as March 2019. Also this week, a first-of-its-kind stablecoin was launched. The Wrapped BTC (WBTC) stablecoin is an ERC-20 token that is backed 1:1 with bitcoin. WBTC is a joint initiative by startups Kyber Network and Republic Protocol, with involvement from a major cryptocurrency custody firm.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- DFS CONTINUES TO ADVANCE RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION IN NEW YORK'S FINTECH INDUSTRY
- SWIFT Chief Announces Trial DLT Integration With R3
- Notice Regarding an Agreement for Establishment of Joint Venture between The U.S. Fintech Company R3 HoldCo LLC
- Nasdaq Is Now Working With 7 Cryptocurrency Exchanges
- Gemini Completes SOC 2 Review — A World's First For a Cryptocurrency Exchange and Custodian
- Fidelity Is Said to Plan March Launch of Bitcoin Custody Service
- A Bitcoin-Backed Stablecoin Has Launched on the Ethereum Blockchain
- Cottonwood Vending Bitcoin ATM Network Operator Granted New York's BitLicense
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.