Polygon Gains Regulated US Payments Reach After Closing Coinme Deal

Polygon Labs has completed its purchase of Coinme, giving its stablecoin payments platform a regulated way to convert dollars into digital assets and back across 48 US states.

Polygon Money Transmitter Licenses and State Exemptions

Polygon announced on Wednesday that its US payments business now holds 37 money transmitter licenses and 11 state exemptions. It is also registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network as a money services business, adding federal oversight on top of the state approvals. For payments firms, licensing is often the slowest part of entering the American market, so buying it through an acquisition saves considerable time. Polygon Labs also merged some roles at the time, and CEO Marc Boiron said the team needed to shift toward becoming a leading payments focused blockchain company.

What Coinme Adds to the Platform

Coinme is a licensed crypto exchange and cash to crypto service where users can buy and sell digital assets with cash, debit cards and bank transfers. When the deal was first announced, Polygon said it had over one million users and a retail network across 50,000 locations.

Open Money Stack for Stablecoin Payments

Rahul Shinghal, co-founder and CEO of cross border payments company Tazapay, said the Open Money Stack gives businesses a more direct route between stablecoins and local currency. Tazapay is one of the platform’s first customers.