CEX.IO, a multi-functional London based cryptocurrency exchange announced today the official launch of operation and service within the United States. Now, US customers from certain states are able to deposit and withdraw paper currency.
CEX.IO has obtained an MSB (Money Services Business) status in FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As a registered MSB, CEX.IO has proved that the company complies with the Bank Secrecy Act requirements applicable to financial institutions as well as to each of the specific requirements applicable to MSBs.
Starting from January 2015, CEX.IO has been especially focusing on thorough investigations in the Bitcoin regulation issue. As the USA has a federalism government system, the question has both federal and state perspectives. The exchange stated on the company blog they have made numerous requests to respective authorities of different states, in order to get up-to-date information about local Bitcoin regulation.
Meanwhile, the CEX.IO platform has been under development and optimization to make it fully compliant with standards of working with US customers. Thus, additional fields in the identity verification form have been added to the website, to obtain information about each user’s state residence.
Now, the exchange has enabled fiat money deposits and withdrawals for US customers from those states that either do not require additional Money Transmitter License from Bitcoin companies, or those who are only in process of developing Bitcoin regulation policies.
Currently, CEX.IO is not able to work with users from the following states:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.
Still, to extend operation geography within the USA, CEX.IO has started a procedure of obtaining MTL in the above mentioned states. CEX.IO works individually with each US customer through identity verification checked by the compliance department, considering updates of the applicable legislation of each state.
“Entering the US market is great news, as now we can offer our services to users from the USA in full,” says Jeffrey Smith, Chief Information Officer. “We consider this step as the next level in CEX.IO history, and invite all users to check out the easiest way to buy Bitcoin. Officially, on CEX.IO.”