January 25, 2019

New Yorkers Can Now Use The Robinhood App; Buy BTC With a Debit Card

The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has granted the BitLicense to cryptocurrency trading app Robinhood as well as LibertyX, which allows users to buy BTC with debit cards at regular ATMs.

Robinhood Comes to New York

The New York’s DFS has officially approved a virtual currency license (BitLicense) and a money transmitter license to popular stock and cryptocurrency trading app Robinhood.

Per the license, Robinhood is now permitted to provide services involving seven different cryptocurrencies in the state of New York, which include BTC (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and BTC Cash (BCH).

“We’re delighted that Robinhood Crypto has been granted a virtual currency license and a money transmitter license in New York. This will complement the larger suite of investment services that New Yorkers already have access to on the Robinhood platform…”said Vlad Tenev, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Robinhood Markets, Inc.

Robinhood is a popular stock market trading app, which introduced cryptocurrency trading in February 2018. The company is currently worth $5.6 billion with over 6 million users.

In September 2018, Bitcoinist reported that Robinhood has marketed itself as a low-cost alternative to similar apps while making millions selling users’ data to financial companies on the side.

‘First Debit Card BTC Purchasing Options’

The other BitLicense was approved for LibertyX, which becomes the very first regulated company to let New Yorkers buy BTC from traditional ATMs.

Last year, the company announced a partnership with Genmega. There are over 100,00 Genmega ATMs throughout the US, where users can buy BTC with their debit cards.

Speaking on the matter, Chris Yim, co-founder & CEO at LibertyX said:

After an extensive review process, we are delighted to receive the blessing of the NYDFS (BitLicense) and offer the first debit card BTC purchasing options to New York State residents.

The DFS has so far approved sixteen BitLicense applications, including Robinhood and LibertyX.

What do you think of the DFS granting BitLicense to both Robinhood and LibertyX? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

Published at Fri, 25 Jan 2019 17:00:00 +0000

You might be interested in …

December 19, 2017

Omise Goes High on Ethereum Boost

Nearly all of the altcoins have been enjoying a bumper run up to the holiday season in crypto land. Many record price highs have been broken in the last week or two as it seems like everyone is stocking up on crypto.

Ethereum has seen record price action in the past few days, surging past its previous high of $753 on December 14th to reach a new one of $831 just a couple of hours ago. ETH is up almost 140% from the same time last month, and market capacity is almost at $80 billion.

Omise on the Go

Since many altcoins are based on the Ethereum platform, their success largely depends on it doing well. Once such digital asset that has rode on the back of Ethereum’s rise, and the words of its creator, is OmiseGO. In a post last week, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin endorsed OmiseGO by tweeting:

Right now my favorite token model is OMG-style staking tokens.

OMG works on a delegated proof-of-stake, which involves validating the network through running nodes that can be voted for. According to reports, rewards are distributed in a democratized way through the ability to vote for which node to validate the transaction. Rewarding good performers and down-voting poor ones should achieve some form of balance on the network and incentivize everyone to perform well.

OmiseGO views blockchain as a data revolution and not so much a storage ledger as in the bitcoin model. Its cryptographic processes are designed to process data which will bring new opportunities for IT infrastructures and companies other than just financially-based organizations. OMG is big in Asia, especially Thailand, where payment trials are currently in operation with companies such as McDonalds. The ethos is to provide those without a bank account a safe and secure wallet for digital transactions.

Up and Running

OMG is already processing payments, and the system is not new to the crypto scene; it was founded in 2013. Transactions are currently taking place, and more organizations are set to test the technology in the coming months when wallet SDKs and the plasma architecture are to be rolled out. Overall, OMG has a solid roadmap for next year.

OmiseGO has gained an extraordinary 4000% since mid-year. Trading as a sub-dollar coin back in July, it has now topped an all-time high of $20.56 just a few minutes ago. Market capacity is just over $2 billion, and the total supply is just 140 million, with over 100 million already out there. Omise still has a long way to GO in 2018.

How far will Omise GO next year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Images courtesy of Bitcoinist archives, Twitter/@VitalikButerin, and Moody AFB.

The post Omise Goes High on Ethereum Boost appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.

March 7, 2018

Ethereum Analysis March 8, 2018

Ethereum Analysis March 8, 2018 NewsBTC is a news service that covers bitcoin news, technical analysis and forecasts for bitcoin and other altcoins. Here at NewsBTC, we are dedicated to enlightening people all around the […]

April 9, 2019

Binance’s Bitcoin [BTC] transactions higher than January 2018 bull run, says Changpeng Zhao

Binance’s bitcoin [BTC] transactions higher than January 2018 bull run, says Changpeng Zhao bitcoin’s recent price pump raised several eyebrows within the cryptocurrency space. While some relegated it to an isolated spurt in a volatile […]