After New York State began requiring companies to carry a license to engage in virtual currency activity, Ripple has received a BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services today. This marks the first New York BitLicense for institutional use of digital assets.

The San Francisco-based company, owner of a distributed ledger and host of the digital currency XRP, will leverage the license to gain footing into New York banks. As CEO Chris Larsen says, “With the BitLicense in hand, we look forward to working with our New York bank customers seeking to use XRP for liquidity and cost savings.” XRP offers banks access to a global payments infrastructure that increases transaction speed, certainty of settlement, and lowers the costs related to treasury operations, payment processing, liquidity and compliance.

The company launched the Ripple Network at FinovateSpring 2013 and recently announced a new initiative to help banks test Ripple integration without disrupting their operations. Early this year, Ripple partnered with SBI Holdings to boost interest in the ASEAN region.