Share this article
Pennsylvania Clarifies That Crypto Exchanges Are Not Money Transmitters
Pennsylvania's government has clarified that crypto exchanges and providers do not require a money transmission license to operate.
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 8:49 a.m. Published Jan 23, 2019, 10:15 a.m.
Pennsylvania's Department of Banking and Securities (DoBS) has clarified that crypto exchanges and service providers do not require a money transmission license to operate in the state.
The DoBS published the new guidance for the local crypto industry on Wednesday, following a number of enquiries from businesses, it said.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
The department explained that as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are not "money," the Money Transmission Business Licensing Law or the Money Transmitter Act of Pennsylvania does not apply to crypto trading platforms.
According to the act, only fiat currency or the U.S. government-issued currency is considered money. “To date, no jurisdiction in the United States has designated virtual currency as legal tender,” the department said.
The act states that parties conducting the business of transmitting money need to be licensed if they transfer fiat currency and must charge a fee for the transfer. However, as crypto exchanges “never directly handle” fiat currency and the transactions are conducted through a bank account, these "are not money transmitters” that require the license, according to the guidance.
Other businesses in the sector, such as cryptocurrency kiosk, ATM and vending machine providers are also not money transmitters.
The DoBS said:
“In both the one-way and two-way Kiosk systems, there is no transfer of money to any third party. The user of the Kiosk merely exchanges fiat currency for virtual currency and vice versa, and there is no money transmission.”
Pennsylvania's clarification on the license arrives after a three-year delay. Back in January 2016, the government was seeking to update the state’s definition of money to cover cryptocurrency businesses, but the initiative stalled at the time due to a budget impasse.
The scenario may be different for firms dealing with initial coin offering (ICO) tokens at the federal level, however. In March 2018, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said: “An exchange that sells ICO coins or tokens, or exchanges them for other virtual currency, fiat currency, or other value that substitutes for currency, would typically also be a money transmitter.”
Pennsylvania State Capitol image via Shutterstock
Más para ti
Lo que debes saber:
- 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
State Street and Galaxy to Launch Tokenized Liquidity Fund on Solana in 2026
The fund will run on Solana at launch and use PYUSD.
What to know:
- State Street and Galaxy plan to launch SWEEP in early 2026, using PYUSD for around-the-clock investor flows on Solana.
- Ondo Finance committed about $200 million to seed the tokenized liquidity fund, which will later expand to other chains.
- The firms say the product brings traditional cash-management tools onto public blockchains for qualified institutions.
Top Stories
