(Bloomberg) -- Genesis Global Trading, a cryptocurrency broker that specializes in large trades with institutional investors, gained approval to operate in New York under the state’s Department of Financial Services’ BitLicense program.
The regulatory approval is the first for a New York-based trading firm, Genesis said in a statement Thursday. The BitLicense will allow Genesis to facilitate the trading of Bitcoin, Ether, Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin Cash, XRP, Litecoin and Zcash. Genesis offers private over-the-counter trading to its customers.
“Although we have operated under a safe harbor provision in recent years, today’s decision is an important step forward and reaffirms the robust compliance measures we have enacted as an established trading partner," Michael Moro, chief executive officer of Genesis, said in the statement. Genesis is also a broker-dealer registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Finra.
The BitLicense was created by New York’s financial-services department in 2015 as a special permit applied to virtual currency exchanges. It has drawn criticism from crypto companies for being too burdensome.
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