Anchorage Digital has secured a BitLicense in New York, enabling the company to serve institutions in the world's financial capital.
"Secure and cost-efficient trading" In an announcement made on Monday, the company said that it will begin offering this service in early 2019.
Only a small number of companies are granted a BitLicense, despite the fact that it is time-consuming and costly.
Residents and businesses in New York who wish to purchase and sell cryptocurrency can only do so with platforms which have been granted a BitLicense. Some critics say this is a barrier to innovation, and that it disproportionately hurts startups.
Anchorage Digital's CEO and co-founder, Nathan McCauley, said this is "a major step forward" for his company—and vowed to continue cooperating with the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS.)
"Bringing regulated and efficient crypto trading to clients based in New York marks the latest in our journey to build the best regulatory and technical stack for institutions in crypto," He also added.
The demand from institutional investors and investment advisors for Bitcoin exchange-traded products that track its spot value is seemingly unstoppable.
Anchorage Digital says it offers an agency trading desk that's targeted toward this end of the market, meaning NY-based institutions can access "safe, regulated crypto trading with competitive pricing."
Recently, BitLicenses opened doors to other products.
Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin, which aims to challenge the likes of Tether and Circle by offering digital assets pegged on a 1:1 basis with the U.S. dollar, is going live today.
RLUSD has been regulated under the NYDFS. In essence, this means it is subject to New York’s banking laws.
Anticipation for this stablecoin's rollout has helped XRP, a token launched by the co-founders of Ripple Labs, accelerate in recent days.
It's trading at $2.67 at the time of writing, up 14% over the past 24 hours—building upon a rally that began when Donald Trump was re-elected president.
He has made sweeping reforms at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC, which was involved in a legal dispute with Ripple for years, is now embracing crypto.
ETFs with exposure to XRP could also be boosted by a relaxed regulatory environment in the Trump Administration.
Stacy Elliott edited this article.