Ripple said it has received full authorization under the EU’s MiCA crypto framework after Luxembourg’s financial regulator granted the company a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license.
The authorization follows Ripple’s initial approval in June and, combined with the company’s existing Electronic Money Institution license, allows the blockchain payments company to provide regulated crypto-asset services in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Ripple said the approval makes it one of a small number of digital asset companies with full authorization under MiCA. The company now holds more than 75 regulatory licenses around the world, including authorization from the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority, received in January.
“This CASP authorization means Ripple enters the transitional MiCA era, fully compliant and ready to scale,” said Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s managing director for the United Kingdom and Europe.
Source: Cassie Craddock
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Europe starts implementing MiCA crypto rules
Ripple’s approval follows the end of the EU’s MiCA transition period on July 1, when crypto companies were required to obtain authorization or stop offering regulated services in the bloc. The framework allows authorized companies to passport regulated crypto services throughout the EEA, generally under a single license.
On Friday, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an updated register listing 280 licensed crypto-asset service providers. The total increased from 243 a week earlier after the addition of 37 companies including Standard Chartered, FalconX and Sygnum Europe.
Not every company received MiCA authorization before the deadline. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, withdrew its MiCA application in Greece ahead of the July 1 transition and said it would pursue authorization in another member state as it took steps to comply with the bloc’s new rules.
The block has now entered the enforcement phase of MiCA, with unauthorized crypto companies expected to cease operations or face penalties. While ESMA coordinates supervision and maintains the register of the block of authorized crypto companies, day-to-day enforcement is carried out by national regulators, meaning implementation is likely to vary across member states.
Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority has already started enforcing the new rules. On Monday, the regulator identified six crypto-asset service providers that it said were operating without authorization and added them to its list of unauthorized crypto-asset service providers.
Belgium’s FSMA warns against unauthorized crypto providers. Source: FSMA
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