Mt Gox’s receipt of an MSB license is a major step to operating freely in the U.S.

Leading Bitcoin Exchange company Mt Gox has applied for, and received, a U.S. Money Services Business MSB license from FinCen, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, Mt Gox’s MSB license means that Mt Gox has agreed to ‘play by the rules’ when it comes to reporting money laundering, or certain suspicious activity. For example, under FinCen rules all movements of cash (or Bitcoin, in this case) in excess of $10,000 value must be reported to FinCen.

Mt Gox has had a hard run of it lately. Last Monday saw Mt Gox go down for several hours, as it admitted that it ought to employ better server management. That followed the suspension of US dollar withdrawals at Mt Gox, as Mt Gox’s bank just couldn’t handle the volume of transactions. And in May, as we reported, the US Department of Homeland Security seized assets associated with Mt. Gox.

So how has Mt Gox fared through all this? Bitcoin Magazine reports that despite Mt Gox’s recent legal and banking problems, Mt Gox’s market share is remaining surprisingly resilient at 65%-70% of Bitcoin trading. That is much lower than the 75%-90% Mt Gox did before the sudden rise in Bitcoin price and popularity earlier this year, but strong nonetheless.

To see Mt Gox’s actual FinCen license click here.

For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.