The company announced Tuesday (June 23) that it had landed preliminary approval for its crypto asset service provider (CASP) license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) under the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.
The CASP license, along with Ripple’s existing EU electronic money institution (EMI) license, will let European banks, fintechs and corporates access Ripple’s crypto asset and stablecoin payments infrastructure through a single integration for the first time, while positioning the company for a broad regional expansion.
“MiCA has helped to unlock a new wave of institutional digital assets adoption, and we are seeing that demand accelerate across the region,” Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s managing director for the U.K. and Europe, said in a news release.
“Financial market infrastructure is moving onchain – from cross-border payments and settlement to collateral management and tokenized assets – and banks and fintechs are actively building the digital asset capabilities they need to remain competitive. With our growing European presence, regulatory track record and institutional-grade infrastructure, we’re ready to meet the moment and support that transition at scale.”
After it has received full approval, the combined CASP and EMI licenses will make Ripple fully compliant with MiCA, the release added.
The news comes one week before the deadline for MiCA compliance in Europe, with full implementation due to follow in August.
PYMNTS looked at the law’s impact on the digital asset landscape in a report last week, noting that for most of crypto’s history, it was complexity that served as a barrier to adoption.
But MiCA essentially requires companies to make digital assets understandable to both regulators and mainstream consumers. Instead of asking if crypto belongs inside the financial system, Europe has concluded that it does, but only under rules resembling the ones covering other forms of financial infrastructure.
“If MiCA succeeds, consumers and businesses will not necessarily care whether a payment moves across a card network, a bank rail or a blockchain. They will care that it is fast, inexpensive, secure and protected. The long-term consequence may be that blockchain itself becomes less visible,” that report said.
“That is ultimately what Europe is trying to achieve: not a crypto economy, but a regulated digital financial system in which blockchain is simply another piece of infrastructure.”
