Bitcoin Firm Xapo Cuts North Carolina Access

Bitcoin services provider Xapo has confirmed that it will no longer operate in the state of North Carolina.

The company, which recently moved its headquarters to Switzerland, cited state-level regulation as the decisive factor behind its decision. Earlier today, one North Carolina customer posted a message on Reddit stating that they had received a 30-day closure notice.

Speaking to CoinDesk, Wences Casares, founder of Xapo, said:

"It is correct that we are not operating in North Carolina. We do not have a money transmitter license in that state and we think the effort to comply with their upcoming bitcoin bills is not justified by the number of customers we have there."

As previously reported, an effort to regulate digital currency activity under the state's money transmission laws advanced in the North Carolina Senate earlier this week.

Casares declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit with LifeLock.

Mounting regulation concerns

Xapo is not the first company to cease operations in a part of the United States amidst the development of regulation perceived to be onerous and potentially damaging to digital currency focused companies.

In June, San Francisco-based Coinbase announced that it was shutting down operations in the state of Wyoming until further notice, citing actions taken by the Wyoming Division of Banking.

ShapeShift recently revealed plans to stop serving the New York market following the official launch of the BitLicense digital currency regulatory framework, which came into effect last month.

North Carolina map image via Shutterstock.