Ripple Wins Crypto Service Provider License in EU

Blockchain finance company Ripple said it is now fully compliant with Europe’s crypto regulations.

The company announced Monday (July 6) that it had received its crypto asset service provider (CASP) license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator.

The authorization follows a preliminary approval announced last month and brings Ripple in line with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.

“This CASP authorisation means Ripple enters the post-transitional MiCA era fully compliant and ready to scale,” Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s managing director for the U.K. and Europe, said in a news release. “The institutions we work with across Europe are looking to build their digital assets services alongside regulated partners, and Ripple is licensed and ready to meet that demand.”

Ripple added that this approval makes it one of a handful of digital asset companies with full authorization under MiCA, adding to the 75-plus regulatory licenses it holds worldwide.

PYMNTS looked at the law’s impact on the digital asset landscape last month, pointing out that for much of crypto’s history, it was complexity that acted as a barrier to adoption. MiCA, however, basically forces companies to make digital assets understandable to both regulators and mainstream consumers.

“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.”

A more recent report looked at the impact of the law amid implementation, noting that already, “some of crypto’s most recognizable names are on the outs in Europe.”

For example, Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, failed to obtain approval through Greece before the adoption deadline, and told customers in several European markets that services would be suspended while it seeks authorization elsewhere.

“The real question, however, is no longer which companies survived licensing. It is what kind of crypto industry survives licensing,” PYMNTS added. “Throughout Europe, hundreds of small crypto businesses now face decisions that would have been almost unimaginable several years ago. They must obtain authorization, merge with licensed competitors, shrink operations or exit the market entirely.”