Polygon Completes Coinme Acquisition, Gains US Payments Licenses Across 48 States
Key Takeaways
- •Polygon Labs has closed its acquisition of Coinme, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange that enables regulated dollar-to-digital-asset conversion across 48 US states.
- •Polygon's US payments business now holds 37 money transmitter licenses and 11 state exemptions, and is registered with FINCEN as a money services business.
- •The Coinme deal was agreed in January alongside a purchase of wallet infrastructure provider Sequence, together valued at more than $250 million.
- •Coinme counted more than one million users at time of announcement and operates a retail network spanning 50,000 locations where users can convert cash to digital assets.
- •The acquisition bolsters Polygon's Open Money Stack platform, which early customer Tazapay says offers businesses a more direct route between stablecoins and local currency.
Polygon Labs has completed its acquisition of Coinme, a licensed cryptocurrency exchange and cash-to-crypto platform, giving the company's stablecoin payments business a regulated way to convert dollars into digital assets and back across 48 US states.
Polygon said Wednesday that its US payments business now holds coverage through 37 money transmitter licenses and 11 state exemptions, and is registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN) as a money services business. Money transmitter licenses are state-level authorizations required for companies that move funds on behalf of customers, while FINCEN, a bureau of the US Treasury Department, enforces anti-money-laundering rules for the sector. The 37 licenses and 11 exemptions together account for the coverage across 48 states.
The closing follows agreements announced in January to buy Coinme and wallet infrastructure provider Sequence for more than $250 million combined, while consolidating certain roles at Polygon Labs. At the time, Polygon CEO Marc Boiron said the company needed the teams to transition into a "leading payments-focused blockchain company."
Coinme lets users buy and sell digital assets through cash, debit cards and bank transfers. At the time the acquisition was first announced, the company counted more than one million users and operated a retail network spanning 50,000 locations, according to Polygon. The retail network gives users physical access points for turning cash into digital assets, complementing the card and bank channels.
The completed deal strengthens Polygon's payments infrastructure, including its Open Money Stack platform. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to hold a steady value against reference assets such as the US dollar and have grown into a common settlement medium for payments. With Coinme's licensed conversion network now in-house, the stack links stablecoin settlement directly to dollar entry and exit points. Rahul Shinghal, co-founder and CEO of cross-border payments company Tazapay, one of the platform's first customers, said the stack gives businesses "a more direct route between stablecoins and local currency."
Polygon outlined the completed transaction in an official announcement. This article was first reported by Cointelegraph.
