Why currency related company are registering in US MSB? How valuable is it?

After Huobi, OKCOIN and Epay successively got US MSB financial license, MSB financial license gradually attracted the attention of the industry.

So what is MSB? Why Huobi, OKCOIN, and Epay registered in the MSB? Does the successful registration of MSB mean that it is legal to conduct financial transactions in the United States? These problems are still a relatively unfamiliar topic for most people in the industry. Therefore, in this article, I will give a full analysis of it.

How valuable of MSB?

MSB is the abbreviation of Money Services Business, which belongs to FinCEN (the financial crime enforcement agency under the US Treasury) and belongs to the registration and licensing system. Businesses involved in money services must apply for this license. This is similar to the capital services business added in China Business Register.

According to the guidelines issued by FinCEN on March 18, 2013, digital assets management parties (such as asset issuers) and “exchangers” (such as exchanges) that provide services to Americans are subject to MSB under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), which needs to complete FinCEN registration within 180 days before starting the business.

MSB is a necessary and insufficient condition to comply complaint with digital asset trading business. Since there is no other explicit regulatory requirement for crypto trade at the US federal, the familiar Bifines and Poloniex in the United States are all crypto exchange conducted under MSB.

Is it all right to successfully register MSB?

of course not. In terms of results, registration as an MSB merely fulfills compliance requirements of federal laws and is a necessary but not sufficient condition for an exchange or financial institution to conduct financial transactions in the United States.

As far as the current situation is concerned, at the state government level, on the one hand, there is no unified business license standard. On the other hand, some state license applications are difficult and cumbersome, and even some states have not made any regulations on them. In the case of this unstable interstate legal environment, the way to initiate and actively communicate with the US government is to ensure that its business in the United States is effective and secure, and it is worthy of emulation by other exchanges and industry peers.

In short, the success of registering MSB is undoubtedly a positive step for Huobi, Okcoin, and Epay to conduct legal business in the United States.