Cryptocurrency brokerage startup Tagomi Trading LLC has obtained a New York Department of Financial Services BitLicense, the 18th company to do so.

A division of Tagomi Systems Inc., a startup backed by Peter Thiel and founded in 2017, the startup combines institutional-grade services with superior execution technology for digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Pitched as empowering institutional investors and active traders to trade across markets, Tagomi takes trade orders and places them across multiple exchanges in an effort to obtain the best prices.

“The number of clients that opens up in New York is quite a substantial opportunity,” Greg Tusar, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tagomi, said in a statement. “We definitely have a backlog of clients that we would like to onboard that we were waiting for this approval to move forward with.”

The company’s team comes with strong credentials. Tusar (pictured, right) was formerly global head of electronic trading at Goldman Sachs, while co-founder Jennifer Campbell (middle) was formerly with Union Square Ventures. Chief Compliance Officer Venu Palaparthi was previously a vice president of Nasdaq Inc., while General Counsel Dhawal Sharma has worked for the Investor Protection Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office and as a special counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The talent pool at the top of the Tagomi has also attracted high-quality investors. Along with Peter Thiel, investors in Tagomi include SV Angel, Dragonfly Capital Partners and Pantera Capital. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised $27.5 million to date.

In obtaining an occasionally controversial New York BitLicense, Tagomi walks in the footsteps of various other big names in the cryptocurrency industry. Online stockbroker Robinhood Financial LLC was the 17th company to obtain a BitLicense in January, after companies that included Square Inc., Circle Inc. and bitFlyer Inc.

Under the license, Tagomi is allowed to engage in money transmission and to offer trade routing and order execution services for cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and LiteCoin.

Photo: Tagomi