Crypto Exchange Binance.US Secures Money Transmitter License in Puerto Rico

Binance.US has received a money transmitter license in Puerto Rico.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s American partner announced the development Tuesday. Binance.US first moved in September 2019 to allow Puerto Rico residents access to the same services as American residents in a now-deleted blog post.

A spokesperson from Binance.US confirmed that residents of Puerto Rico have been able to access services on the exchange prior to the money transmitter license being granted. The spokesperson did not respond to inquiries about how the new license changes existing services.

“Puerto Rico, in particular, is an important market for the growth of crypto and we look forward to continuing to offer its residents secure, reliable, and low-fee access to a robust selection of tokens,” Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder said in a statement Tuesday. 

Any company where an “order of payment is received, including but not limited to, bank drafts, checks, personal money orders, or any other means of money transmission or payment, including those carried out by electronic transfer, wire, telephone, or any other medium to be transferred to a beneficiary” is required to obtain a money transmitter license in Puerto Rico, according to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry Resource Center. 

The new license marks Binance.US’ fourth this year. The exchange has secured accreditation in Connecticut, West Virginia and Wyoming since January. Not all states, however, require a license in order for an exchange to operate. 

In March, Binance.US announced that it was available to Louisiana residents, meaning the exchange is now accessible in 45 US states. 

“Each state, including Louisiana, has a unique set of requirements, and we are working to ensure that we will ultimately be able to operate in all 50 states,” Sidney Majalya, chief risk officer of Binance.US, said at the time. “We’re thrilled to offer our services in Louisiana, and like other states, look forward to working with state officials to demonstrate our compliance-first mindset.” 

The Puerto Rico license comes after Binance.US hit a valuation of $4.5 billion, following the close of a $200 million seed financing round earlier this month. Investors in the round included Circle Ventures, Foundation Capital, Gaingels, Gold House, Original Capital, RRE Ventures and VanEck.

Binance.US launched in September 2019 via a partnership with BAM Trading Services after Binance stopped serving US customers the same month.

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