The New York State Department of Financial Services has approved the application of Gemini Trust Company to trade the digital currency ether on its platform, which is the first time the state has consented to the trading of a digital currency that is not Bitcoin.

Ether is a token or digital asset from the Ethereum platform, a blockchain platform, which includes a public ledger of all ether transactions. It uses ether to execute peer-to-peer contracts without the need for intermediaries.

Gemini Trust Company began trading ether on May 9, 2016. It is reported that ether is the second largest virtual currency behind Bitcoin, and has continued to increase since its start in 2015.

[View source.]