Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) answered a letter from the bitcoin company that deals with gold and issues “blockchain certificates”. According to the answer, some bitcoin companies that work with colored coins and tokens might need money transmitter license.

FINCEN published the answer to the letter on their website. According to this text, the anonymous company in question “provides Internet-based brokerage services between buyers and sellers of precious metals. Buyers pay sellers directly by check, wire transfer, or bitcoin”.

It also “buys and sells precious metals on its own account,” “holds precious metals in custody for buyers that purchase this service (“Customers”), opening a digital wallet for the Customer and issuing a digital proof of custody (a “digital certificate”) that can be linked to the Customer’s wallet on the Bitcoin blockchain ledger”.

In the letter, the company asked the American regulator whether it falls under the exemption from money transmitter license. The answer is “no”.

“FinCEN finds that, as the Company is going beyond the activities of a broker or dealer in commodities and is acting as a convertible virtual currency administrator (with the freely transferable digital certificates being the commodity-backed virtual currency), the Company falls under the definition of money transmitter.”

This means that the companies that plan to work with the colored coins and other blockchain-based tokens in the USA need to start the lengthy process of obtaining the needed license.

Roman Korizky