Bitstocks Gravity to suspend its money service

Bitstocks Gravity is suspending its trading services, and users have until March 11, 2022, to remove all of their assets from Gravity. 

A very sad day for the BSV spend and replace ecosystem across Europe. @Bitstocks_ is retracting it's permanent money services FCA application for @GravityEco. I'm absolutely gutted. 😪 pic.twitter.com/yHElKgFbbu

— Roy Murphy (@murphsicles) February 14, 2022

This move comes as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) advised Bitstocks that their application for permanent FCA registration was likely to be rejected; subsequently, Bitstocks withdrew their application. 

“While our application was submitted over two years ago, it was only recently reviewed by the FCA. They take the stance of reviewing the application-based operations, processes, and procedures at the time of submission, and not at the time of review,” said Nicola Shillingford, the head of marketing at Bitstocks.

“Despite our dedication to operating in a pre-compliant manner and having regular audits from our banking partner, the time it took the FCA to review our application went against us as guidelines with regards to cryptocurrency-related activities had been amended and adjusted within our application period,” she added.

Where will Bitstocks go from here?

While Bitstocks actively searches for solutions that will allow them to offer the Gravity Money service, they will be putting more of their time and resources into self-custody and peer-to-peer product offerings that are related to Metaverse services, including the Gravity Marketplace for NFTs.

“We’re aiming to provide more details and anticipated launch dates by the end of Q1,” said Shillingford.

“We aim to deliver the easiest, cheapest and greenest NFT marketplace, leveraging the power and scale of the Bitcoin SV network. As the first layer-zero NFT marketplace, customers are assured of their true ownership of their assets, not dependant on Gravity at all. Leveraging BSV, we can deliver a platform that solves issues such as high gas fees, excessive carbon emissions, and large file sizes, combined with the simplest, seamless creation of smart contracts.”

Where can I buy BSV in the UK?

OKX, Bittrex, BcBitcoin, and BuyBSV are some of the best alternatives individuals can use to buy BSV when Gravity officially stops servicing customers. 

There are also a variety of wallets that support BSV that Gravity users could send their funds to when they are removing their assets from the platform; Money Button, Volt Wallet, Tique, Centbee, Zumo, and HandCash are a few of the most popular.

HandCash has begun rolling out its fiat onramps to USA-based users and says that the recent news around Bitstocks will catalyze their launch in the U.K. market.

We're having more requests than from any other region. We'll try to get there ASAP.

— Alex Agut (@apagut) February 18, 2022

Zumo has plans to implement BSV buying and selling and will launch this feature in what they call “Phase 2” of their strategy.

Future Bitstocks Gravity announcements

To stay up to date with Bitstocks, the developing story around its application withdrawal, and its plans for the future, Shillingford says:

“The Bitstocks discord channel is the best place to be able to communicate directly with the team, but announcements will also be made across our Twitter and Instagram accounts.”

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