According to social media posts from the company on Sunday, Israeli-based crypto exchange Bits of Gold became the country’s first crypto agency to obtain a license from the Capital Markets Authority.
Because of the license, Bits of Gold will be able to retail digital currencies through secure custody in a “Bits of Gold Pockets” project they’ve been working on for some time.
It will also begin offering a service that will allow banks and other financial institutions to connect with its digital asset providers.
Bits of Gold stated in a public statement that the license is the next step in its mission to make the world of digital currencies more accessible to the Israeli public “in an easy and secure manner.”
Authorities in Israel have imposed restrictions on money funds within the country in order to combat crime and drive a transition to digital funds throughout the country.
Regardless, institutional adoption in the country has been slow, with Israeli banks being particularly hostile to crypto and blocking providers until recently, citing Anti-Cash Laundering (AML) concerns.
In 2017, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that local financial institution Leumi was legally allowed to refuse service to Bits of Gold, claiming that the nature of Bitcoin (BTC) made compliance with AML requirements impossible.
The Supreme Court’s position had shifted by 2019, when it ruled that Leumi couldn’t block Bits of Gold’s account due to regulatory issues, setting a precedent for different cryptocurrency companies.
The implementation of recent AML rules by the Israeli federal government has paved the way for collaboration between banks and the crypto trade.
The event also mandated that crypto corporations be licensed, though companies that applied for one were granted permission to temporarily continue operations.
Another impediment to institutional adoption in Israel is the country’s taxation laws. According to a report released on September 8 by crypto analytics firm Coincub, the country was recently ranked as the third worst for crypto taxation.
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