bitFlyer USA has announced that its cryptocurrency exchange will soon be available to customers in Hawaii. The exchange will be offered thanks to the newly formed Digital Currency Innovation Lab, a partnership formed between the state of Hawaii’s Department of Financial Institutions and Hawaii Technology Development Corporation (HTDC). The pilot program is the first regulatory sandbox of its kind in the state and will allow cryptocurrency service providers to do business in Hawaii without obtaining a state money transmitter license for a period of two years.
Hawaii residents will now have the ability to easily buy and sell bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with USD through bitFlyer’s intuitive “Direct Buy/Sell” platform, as well as their iOS or Android mobile apps.
Additionally, bitFlyer Lightning, the exchange’s professional-grade trading platform, is available for sophisticated traders and institutional investors.
Joel Edgerton, COO of bitFlyer USA said: “We are happy to partner with the State of Hawaii to bring our world class services here. Now residents in Hawaii have access to a trusted, licensed exchange to support their Bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading.”
As the only exchange in the world licensed to operate in the US, Japan, and Europe, and the fourth exchange to receive the New York BitLicense, bitFlyer has been at the forefront of regulatory partnerships since its founding, and is excited to join the State of Hawaii in promoting innovation. The program will create a secure environment for Hawaii residents looking to access cryptocurrencies in a safe way, and will also provide regulators with the right tools and insights to develop thoughtful regulations.
Len Higashi, acting executive director of HTDC, added, “We congratulate bitFlyer on its successful admission into the Digital Currency Innovation Lab. We look forward to its participation to create a more vibrant virtual currency community in Hawaii.”
The sandbox initiative marks the return of crypto exchanges to Hawaii, with the ultimate goal of seeing exchanges such as bitFlyer promoted to full licensees in the future.
Launched in San Francisco in 2017, bitFlyer USA now operates in 48 states and territories. bitFlyer, Inc. was formed in Tokyo in 2014 and has been Japan’s largest exchange by volume for many years, with millions of customers around the globe.
