The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has issued a BitLicense to the Bakkt trading platform, which will allow it to legally work with residents of this state. NYDFS has been issuing BitLicense since 2015.
Firms wishing to obtain a license must meet certain requirements. In addition, obtaining a BitLicense costs a rather large amount – up to $ 100,000. The head of NYDFS Linda Lacewell said that the department is ready to provide opportunities and conditions for the development of cryptocurrency firms in New York, since the state has already begun to recover from the pandemic.
Bakkt is the 29th organization to receive a BitLicense. A platform dedicated to trading cryptocurrency derivatives was launched by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in September 2019. A few months after the launch, the first regulated options for bitcoin and futures contracts with settlements in fiat currency were presented on the site. This served as a complement to existing Bakkt products.
In November 2011, Bakkt opened the Bakkt Warehouse custody service for institutional investors to ensure the safety of client assets. This service has also been approved by the NYDFS. Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael said that obtaining a license is an important milestone in the development of the platform, bringing digital assets closer to everyone.
The cryptocurrency industry is developing rapidly, so Michael announced the need to innovate. He mentioned the company’s ambitious plans for the upcoming launch of the Bakkt Cash app for retail P2P payments. With this application, users will be able to pay with cryptocurrencies for goods in various retail outlets.
Last year, Bakkt developers began testing the Bakkt Cash payment option with the largest coffee chain Starbucks. As part of the testing, Starbucks customers were able to buy coffee with Bitcoin.
