Crypto startup Bastion secures cash transmitter licenses in US

by Jeremy

Bastion, a brand new cryptocurrency startup created by former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) executives, has secured two cash transmitter licenses (MTL) in the US.

Bastion has acquired MTLs in New Hampshire and Arkansas, the primary two licenses obtained by the agency, Bastion introduced on Oct. 31.

The brand new licenses, granted by the New Hampshire Banking Division and Arkansas Securities Division, will allow Bastion to supply providers for fungible digital belongings in every state. It has extra purposes pending for MTLs in different U.S. states, the agency stated.

The license acquisitions allow Bastion to take part in actions associated to the promoting or issuance of cost devices, saved worth, pay as you go entry, in addition to the receipt of cash and digital foreign money to facilitate transactions with others within the states. The licenses may be positioned on the official web site of the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (NMLS).

Bastion’s cash transmitter license. Supply: NMLS

The licenses come only one month after Bastion’s launch in mid-September 2023. The regulatory approvals mark Bastion’s dedication to offering U.S. companies with the power to interact their clients in compliant publicity to digital belongings like Bitcoin (BTC).

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Bastion was based by two former a16z crypto division executives, Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy, with a mission to combine Web3 infrastructure into their present enterprise applied sciences. Bastion’s launch was introduced together with a $25 million seed funding spherical, which was led by a16z crypto.

“The acquisition of MTLs in New Hampshire and Arkansas is a consequential step in realizing our long-term imaginative and prescient,” Bastion co-founder Eddequiouaq stated. He added that the agency views the milestone as a “testomony to the energy and velocity” of Bastion and appears ahead to persevering with the momentum to broaden its areas of operation.

In receiving the MTLs, Bastion joins the rising listing of crypto-related companies that obtained the license, together with Alchemy Pay, Coinbase, Jack Dorsey’s Block, MoonPay, bitFlyer trade and others. In July 2023, Elon Musk’s X (previously Twitter) cost subsidiary reportedly acquired its first MTLs in Michigan, New Hampshire and Missouri.

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