BitGo Cleared to Operate in Italy as a Crypto Custodian; Bitcoin (BTC) broke above $23,000

Several crypto companies have registered to operate in Italy alongside BitGo, a  custody provider of digital assets.

The company’s German branch, BitGo Deutschland GmbH, registered on July 15 with the Italian financial regulator Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM), to provide “digital wallet services” in the country.

 As BitGo enters European nations, it follows the trend of companies expanding their operations in Italy. Crypto.com said it has obtained regulatory approval last Tuesday. Besides that, crypto exchanges Binance, Kraken and Bitpanda and brokerage Trade Republic have also recently registered.

The crypto regulatory landscape in Europe is in a state of uncertainty. It may take up to 2024 for the long awaited Markets in Crypto-Assets law (MiCA) to provide a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies in the European nations. 

There has been no comment by BitGo on its status in Italy as of yet. According to a spokesperson, the company is licensed in South Dakota, New York, Switzerland and Germany, with some other jurisdictions still pending.

Bitcoin (BTC) broke above $23,000 on Tuesday afternoon trading and was exchanging at around $23,350.

In the past two days, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has climbed by more than 12% and pushed the price to its highest point since bitcoin collapsed on June 13.

Ether (ETH) also rose by 6.9% to around $1,560. Breaching its 50-day simple moving average (SMA), the second-largest cryptocurrency has been consistently outperforming bitcoin and hit a high of $1,500 on Monday, .