Currently, there are no penalties being exacted on Coinbase as they work out how to get the proper licensing, but that is not to say there won’t be, which is why it is imperative to always have your business properly licensed.

“The best-funded company in the Bitcoin industry appears to be operating without the proper licenses in the world’s financial capital… Coinbase, a company based in San Francisco with funding from the New York Stock Exchange and other big investors, said this week that it had opened as the first regulated Bitcoin exchange in several states, including New York… But a spokesman for the top financial regulator in New York said the company did not have the licenses necessary to operate as a Bitcoin exchange in the state.”

Read the full article here.

We’ve said it before and we will say it again. There are few tricks to getting a liquor license once the licensing authority has decided that only a handful are available.

“In Montana, where there is a cap on the number of liquor licenses available in the state, purchasing a liquor license has proved to be quite expensive, since there is great demand and limited supply… A recent sale of one noted that “Buffalo Wild Wings paid $575,000 for the all-beverage license.”

The only way to avoid this trap is to know where the traps are located. Do you research way in advance and make sure that a comprehensive licensing database is in your toolkit.

“A year after the passage of a law allowing Pennsylvania taverns to host small games of chance took effect, only a fraction of the expected number of establishments have sought licenses.”

When the game of chance licenses first became available, they projected 2,000 businesses would apply for it. In actuality, only 47 applications have been filed and 37 have been granted licenses. Why? The expensive FBI background check and 65 percent tax rate could have something to do with the low application rate.