Circle, a Bitcoin exchange and services startup is granted an electronic money license by the British government through its foremost financial regulator. The milestone marks the first time that Britain has bestowed a license upon a bitcoin company.
The license was granted by Britain’s primary financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. The move further Britain’s public and determined stance to stand out as the go-to hub for financial technology.
Circle facilitates currency transfers by converting them to bitcoin first, with all transactions verified and recorded on the bitcoin blockchain.
As a financial service, Circle allows users to send and receive payments in USD as well as bitcoin. The service does so, by converting the currency into and out of bitcoin, automatically.
Users who prefer to transact in USD alone, without wanting to venture into using Bitcoin will also be able to do so, with Circle automatically converting the currency to and back from Bitcoin.
Circle was originally a part of the British Government’s Innovation Hub, an initiative undertaken by the government to encourage Fintech research and development. This enabled the Boston-based company to fast-track its way through the process of obtaining the license, making it the first digital currency company in the world to be granted an E-Money license .
Following the official license, Circle has also partnered with leading British bank Barclays. The partnership is, quite possibly, another milestone wherein a leading global bank has directly partnered in an endeavor with a bitcoin company.
With the British license, Circle customers in the United Kingdom will be able to transfer money between dollars and the British sterling. As reported by the New York Times , Circle users will also be able to use transfer money between the two currencies and euros as well, with the E-Money license being valid across the European Union.Speaking to the […]
