XRP posts double-digit gains at the start of the week. | Image: shutterstock.com
Ripple Labs Inc., has had its BitLicense application approved today by New York state’s financial regulator.
The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has approved Ripple Labs’ BitLicense application. Granted today, the approval will grant Ripple the license to sell and obtain XRP – the native digital asset of the Ripple Consensus Ledger, a platform used by financial institutions including banks as well as companies.
Designed to improve currency liquidity while lowering the significant capital costs of cross-border payments, XRP enables banks to use one XRP account held in their control. The measure circumvents the need to withhold local currencies in nostro accounts in different countries around the world. It is estimated that banks using XRP and Ripple can save up to 42 percent on costs as things stand.
Ripple filed its application for the license under its corporate name XRP II LLC.
The regulator revealed that Ripple had cleared a comprehensive review that included anti-money laundering checks, consumer protection assurances, cybersecurity standards and viable capitalization reserves.
In statements, Ripple co-founder and CEO Chris Larsen stated:
Earning the BitLicense is incredible validation of the institutional use of digital assets by DFS, one of the most influential state regulators.
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With the BitLicense in hand, we look forward to working with our New York bank custoemrs seeking to use XRP for liquidity and cost savings,
The BitLicense application spans 31 pages in length and was initially introduced in June 2015 to much criticism. The application is seen as a measure to ensure a framework wherein digital currency firms would have to adhere to certain guidelines. Despite numerous applications, it took until September 2015 for the regulator to grant the first ever BitLicense to Boston-based bitcoin startup, Circle.
Today’s approval comes after recent whispers that the NYDFS was readying BItLicenses for Ripple Labs and prominent bitcoin exchange and wallet service provider, Coinbase. The latter revealed that it had submitted an application for New York state’s BitLicense in August 2015.
Featured image from Ripple Labs.
