Bitcoin exchange Coinbase gets money transmitter license in New York

With everything getting digitalized, the life of every individual is also becoming digital. Internet has given the power to everyone to avail anything they want that too by just sitting at your house. So, digitalization has captured every sphere of the human life. Whether it is about paying bills or opting for shopping you can manage anything and everything from anywhere and in every situation, that’s the power of being digital. Cashless is also not a problem in this era of digitalization. I believe the world is getting powerful day by day with this new technique that allows you to overcome every obstacle.


The effect of digitalization can be mostly felt in the zone of finance. New firms have come up to become a part of the world market holding hands of digitalization. One of the major company that has joined in with the New York’s Financial system is Coinbase. Recently, The Department of Financial System, New York has declared that it has given license to Coinbase for genuinely transmitting currency and money. Coinbase is one of the renowned companies famous for its dealings in terms of currency operating in almost 32 countries. Maria T. Vullo, the Superintendent of Financial Services had made this announcement that Coinbase has maintained its record of efficiency in terms of technological developments and thus New York’s Financial Services Department have decided to incorporate the company in their money and currency transmitting process.


A review of Coinbase’s technology was conducted by Department of Financial Services which involved the companies laundering process regarding anti-money, capitalization, protection of consumers against any piracy and also policies in terms of cyber security. The company Coinbase is constantly under the supervision of Department Of Financial System for offering services such as buying, selling, sending, storing bitcoin and receiving.


The company’s Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong declared that their first and foremost priority is to provide the safest and easiest way of currency exchange that too in a digitalized manner. So, that the customers can rely on them and do not have to experience any discrepancies from the company’s end. It is their way of maintaining a good relationship with its customers. Since, Coinbase in now a part of New York’s Financial System, hence, it has become a much known company in the field of currency transfer. The users can feel free to use them in times of their need and they assure you to provide satisfaction from all ends.


With the increasing need of transmitting currency, The Department OfFinancial System, New York has given license to several other money and currency transmitting firms like Ripple and Circle Internet Financial and trust charters to Gemini Trust Company, Winklevoss brothers are its founders and also itBit Trust Company. The Department before granting them license have fully enquired about these respective companies and after being satisfied have granted them license. These companies have come up to provide the best answer to digitalization and will add up in making life much easier for every human being.

4 Financial Trends we can look forward to in 2017

2017 has descended upon us and early birds are already scouting for the next big thing. Investors are searching for opportunities and journalists are hunting for stories. Keeping merits and demerits of demonetization apart, 2016 can be seen as a watershed year. As demonetization took us by surprise during the second last month of 2016, large parts of India started adopting digital modes of payment in a big way. It forced many Indians who never even had a simple savings account to start using debit cards. 

This also created huge ripples in the fintech sector. Apart from the usual suspects such as digital wallets and payment gateways getting a huge fillip almost overnight, other areas that were galloping along suddenly seemed poised to achieve a hockey stick growth.

Let us look at some of these upcoming trends which can both be impacted as well as create impact in 2017:

Robo Advisory: 

Did you know that there are 39 robo advisory firms in India? Although none of these companies have a robot managing your financial portfolio, the process of offering financial advice is getting automated. Larger financial groups will also be getting into this sector. For instance, read about my review of Edelweiss's GPS platform. By posing pertinent questions, it makes the entire experience of investing easy and straightforward for a lay investor. 

Bitcoin and Blockchain:

Bitcoin is a new type of digital currency as well as a payment system. As of today, 1 bitcoin equals Rs 69,349.42 Yes, you read that right! Bitcoins have been around for almost 8 years now. I remember a friend who had mined 10 bitcoins in 2011 when it was worth Dollar 1. (Around Rs 57). Since then it has only grown in value.  Bitcoin is also a volatile currency. According to Mark Thomas Williams, bitcoin is seven times more volatile than gold and eighteen times more volatile than the US dollar.

Blockchain is nothing but a public ledger of all the boticoin transactions that have been executed. When demonetization was annnounced it had a huge impact on fledgling bitcoin startups in India.I sure hope my friend hasn't sold off the entire lot! :)

Peer to Peer Lending:

Need a loan or an investment? Neither Banks nor NBFCs nor even your private money lender lending you any money? Shy to ask family or friends? P2P lending is the answer. 

P2P lending connects individuals who are interested in lending directly to those who need the moolah. Presently this sector is highly risky and unregulated. Interestingly RBI released a whitepaper on this nascent industry and proposed to categorize P2P platforms as a type of NBFCs. There are around 30 P2P platforms in the country including Lendbox, Lendenclub, Faircent and i2iFunding.

Electronic/Algorithmic Trading:

Accuracy, Speed, Reduction in costs and Elimination of 'Emotions' are the four advantages of Algorithmic trading. Several traders get highly emotional during trading hours and then rue their decisions. In the US, 90% of trading takes place through algorithms. In India, this number is 2%.

Lack of clarity and consensus amongst market participants including regulators about what exactly can be classified as algorithmic trading is the biggest roadblock.

So what are you betting your money on?

Bitcoin: Government to Regulate Crypto Currency to Avoid Money Laundering

Bitcoin – Issue of Money Laundering 

Bitcoin can be useful in purchasing thing electronically and its like conventional dollars, yen or euros which are traded digitally and its most important characteristic which makes it different to conventional money is that it is decentralized. There is no single institution that controls the bitcoin network and this puts some of them at ease since it means that a large bank in unable to control their money.

However, money laundering has become a major issue which the British government has been facing and most of the people in the government are of the belief that bitcoin and similar crypto-currencies are used by some to launder money and there is a need to regulate bitcoin exchanges. This kind of measures taken could stop their use as money laundering hubs. The Treasury is of the opinion that bitcoin has capabilities of being used for money laundering and in order to curb the issue, it wants to regulate digital currency exchanges for the very first time, though this would not mean that the government is not in favour of innovation in the nascent technology but the prevention of criminal use of the digital currency.

Anti-Money Laundering Regulation – Digital Currency Exchanges 

The UK government released a document with the combination with the announcement of UK’s 2015 budget stating its intention to apply anti-money laundering regulation to the digital currency exchanges in UK. As per the document it would be creating the right environment for legitimate players in the space to flourish though it would also ensure that a hostile environment for illicit users of digital currencies is developed to discourage the users. As per the Treasury it is reported that the Government will be regulating bitcoin exchange in order to stop its use as money laundering hubs. A report published with George Osborne’s annual budget, the Treasury has informed that the new regulation would be supporting innovation to prevent criminal acts of digital currencies and the proposals would be consulted in the next parliament session. It is said that the government would be working with the British Standards Association – BSI for the development of a set of standards which would be helpful in protecting the consumers.

New Research Initiative on Digital Currency Technology

It was also informed by the Treasury that a new research initiative on digital currency technology would be coming up, which would inject an additional 10 million pounds in the area. According to a board member of the UK Digital Currency Association, Tom Robinson, who has been involved in the Treasury’s consulation procedure that `the announcement is significant, which bring bitcoin and other block chain technologies closer to mainstream adoption’.

In the discussion published in February, Bank of England informed that the digital currencies like bitcoin portrayed considerable promise and it showed that it was possible to transfer value securely without the need of a trusted third party. Other queries were also raised by the bank on whether central banks should issue digital currencies themselves. In several developed countries, bitcoin has been regulated by existing money laundering or terrorist financing laws. Traditional financial sector regulation is not applicable to bitcoin according to European Central Bank since it does not involve traditional financial players while other the EU state that existing rules could be extended to include bitcoin as well as bitcoin companies.