Coinbase Suspends Service in Wyoming

Coinbase is suspending its service in the state of Wyoming, citing local financial regulations as making it prohibitively costly to operate.

An update on Coinbase's support forum reads:

"The Wyoming Division of Banking has recently communicated regulatory policies which we believe will render continued Coinbase operations there impractical. In particular, we understand that the Wyoming Division of Banking interprets the Wyoming Money Transmitter Act to require licensure of entities which offer hosted Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term wallet services, and that as a condition of such licensure, licensees must maintain dedicated fiat currency reserves in amount equal to the aggregate face value of all bitcoin held on behalf of customers. Although Coinbase securely maintains 100% of all customer bitcoin, it is impractical, costly, and inefficient for us to establish a redundant reserve of fiat currency in equivalent value."

With a population of roughly 585,000, Wyoming is the least populous state in the US. The impact is likely to be low, in contrast with states like New York and California that have taken recent steps to cement Regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term.

Coinbase's services are currently supported in 32 US states and territories, where it has either obtained money services licensing or it has deemed that it is not necessary.