MoonPay Secures New York Trust Charter, Expands Regulated Services

Cryptocurrency payments company MoonPay said it would expand its offering of regulated services after being granted a trust charter by New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS).

In a Tuesday notice, MoonPay said New York’s financial regulator had granted the company a trust charter. The regulatory approval will allow the payments company to provide crypto custody and over-the-counter trading services in New York.

MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said the approval would allow the company to “deepen relationships with global financial institutions,” and expand its existing regulated services. The payments company secured a BitLicense from the NYDFS in June.

Other crypto and payments companies that have both obtained a trust charter and BitLicense from the New York financial regulator include Ripple Labs, Coinbase, and NYDIG. Both Coinbase and Ripple have applied for a federal trust charter with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, but the banking regulator had not announced its decision as of Tuesday.

Related: WisdomTree wins NYDFS trust company charter

Pivoting into stablecoin infrastructure under the GENIUS Act

Since the GENIUS Act, which establishes a framework for payment stablecoins, was signed into law in the US in July, several crypto companies have expanded their services to include stablecoins.

Though the law has not yet taken effect, MoonPay said on Nov. 13 that it had launched an initiative allowing issuers to launch and distribute their own stablecoins.

The stablecoin law may have also influenced how traditional finance companies do business in the US. Visa said in July that it had expanded stablecoin offerings on its settlement platform, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan reportedly said the bank was considering creating a stablecoin in partnership with other financial institutions.

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