ClearBank Secures MiCA License to Support Digital Asset Push

Real-time clearing and embedded banking provider ClearBank has become a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

ClearBank received regulatory confirmation from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), allowing it to begin offering digital asset services, the company said in a Thursday (April 9) press release.

The regulatory confirmation marks ClearBank’s first major step in delivering digital clearing capabilities, according to the release.

As a CASP, ClearBank Europe will now roll out the Circle Mint platform and provide clients with access to Euro Coin (EURC), USD Coin (USDC) and other stablecoins, the release said.

This offering will enable clients in Europe to convert between traditional fiat currencies and digital assets within a regulated banking environment and will support cross-border transactions and settlement across Europe, per the release.

“This is a significant step forward for both ClearBank Europe and our clients, as digital assets become an increasingly important layer of payments infrastructure,” ClearBank Europe CEO Tristan Kirchner said in the release. “By providing access to stablecoins such as EURC and USDC, we are enabling new ways to move money across borders with greater speed, reduced cost and increased efficiency.”

ClearBank announced in February that Kirchner, who has held senior leadership roles at Uber Payments, Barclays and Visa, joined the company as CEO of ClearBank Europe to accelerate the bank’s European expansion.

On the same day, ClearBank announced that it opened a new London headquarters, that the company held 18 billion pounds in customer deposits and that it was continuing to scale and expand its footprint.

The company expanded from the United Kingdom to Europe in August 2024 by establishing ClearBank Europe in the Netherlands with a Dutch banking license. It said at the time that it would offer U.K. and European institutions clearing and embedded banking services across the continent.

ClearBank said in February that it was named one of six in the first cohort of the joint Scale-up Unit launched by the United Kingdom’s Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This new group is designed to strengthen engagement between regulators and fast-growing financial institutions.

In December, ClearBank launched a collaboration with foreign exchange (FX) and payment solutions company Finseta to deliver agency banking services supporting British pound (GBP) and multi-currency (MCCY) accounts.