Chances are that all of those who are involved with Bitcoin had the thought of a Bitcoin bank cross their minds. While many like the currency thanks to the fact that it eliminates the need to go to a bank and cope with the different situations that have given these institutions a bad reputation, there are some who think that a Bitcoin bank may not be such a bad idea.
While different companies and exchanges have tried to act as a bank, many of them have failed. However, ItBit is now closer than ever to becoming the world’s first registered and accepted bank based on a cryptocurrency. The firm which is operationally based over in Singapore, but has a head office in New York has started out back in 2012 and has received a total of $3.3 million in seed funding in the year of 2013.
Finding a way to invest this money is exactly what they have been looking forward to. After a session of brainstorming and tough analysis of the market, they have decided to fight their way around and register as an official bank.
In the case that they are accepted, then this would allow the company to go ahead and legitimately take on the role of a bank and offer customers a higher number of services, while also abiding by all of the legal requirements. Some of these may include granting people loans, allowing them to store their cryptocurrency over on ItBit’s servers and more, all with the traditional contracts of a bank. This could potentially be useful for those who use Bitcoin on a daily basis and are looking for a place where they can store their funds as well.
However, what many do not realize is how difficult being accepted as a bank really is. To make sure that they are successful, ItBit should try their best to get all of the regulations correct from the beginning, as this can be exactly what will grant the exchange the boost that they’re looking for at this moment in time. Together with this, they should also be extra-careful when dealing with BitLicense, which is practically a project designed as an effort to increase the scrutiny that is applied to businesses operating with cryptocurrencies in the state. What’s interesting is that operators are required to be registered and even finger-printed by the authorities in order to ensure that they keep on using ethical practices.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, ItBit will have to fight with a lot of regulations, but if it abides by all regulations, then chances are that it will become the world’s first Bitcoin bank, but also one of the most popular exchanges on the market.