Washington's New Cryptocurrency Exchange Rules Are Now in Effect
New regulations that apply money transmitter laws to cryptocurrency exchanges have gone into effect in the U.S. state of Washington.

New regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges have gone into effect in the U.S. state of Washington.
Following the passing of Senate Bill 5031 into law at the weekend, the state's money transmitter laws now apply to exchanges, meaning that they need to obtain a license from the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and must provide a third-party audit of their data systems.
Among other requirements, the law also mandates a new transmitter bond requirement, with the figure being tied to the amount of currency exchanged during the previous year.
Lawmakers finalized the measure in April, sending it to the desk of Gov. Jay Inslee, who signed it days after work on the bill was completed. According to public records, the law went into effect on Sunday, July 23.
As CoinDesk has previously reported, lawmakers in the western U.S. state have been working since January to develop regulations for exchange startups.
The bill's passage wasn't without controversy, however. Cryptocurrency exchanges Poloniex and Bitfinex declared that they would would stop serving customers there, citing the new regulations.
At the same time, startups such as New York-based exchange Gemini moved in the opposite direction, obtaining approval to begin serving customers in the state earlier this year.
Washington State Capitol image via Shutterstock
More For You
Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Saylor Says Strategy Will Not Issue Preferred Equity In Japan, Giving Metaplanet A 12 Month Headstart

MSTR executive chairman shuts down idea of near term expansion of perpetual preferreds in Japan.
What to know:
- Strategy (MSTR) will not list a perpetual preferred equity, or digital credit, in Japan within the next twelve months, according to executive chairman Michael Saylor.
- Metaplanet plans to introduce two new digital credit instruments, Mercury and Mars, into Japan's perpetual preferred market, aiming to increase yields significantly compared to traditional bank deposits.
- Japan's market regulations differ from the U.S., as it does not allow at-the-market share sales, leading Metaplanet to use a moving strike warrant for its offerings.











