Regulations

Story: EU Banks Surge to 23% of MiCA Crypto Register as 80 Institutions Join

By Steven Anderson

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Germany Drives the Surge. Germany is pretty much carrying this wave. The register now includes commercial banks alongside…

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Why Banks Can Move Faster Than Crypto Firms. The regulatory setup basically hands banks a shortcut.

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Passporting and What It Means Across the Bloc. Once a provider gets authorized in one EU member state, MiCA's passporting system lets them offer…

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Europe's banks are moving fast. The number of EU credit institutions listed on the MiCA crypto-asset register has roughly doubled in less than three months, hitting around 80 as…

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The jump is striking when you look at the full picture. The total count of non-bank providers on ESMA's register rose from roughly 203 to 269 over the same stretch, a gain of…

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Germany is pretty much carrying this wave. The register now includes commercial banks alongside institutions from the Volksbank, Raiffeisenbank, and VR Bank cooperative networks…

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Deutsche Bank is also in the mix. The lender announced plans to offer crypto custody services to institutional and corporate clients across Europe, with MiCA approval expected in…

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As of August, Germany had 79 authorized service providers on the register. France had 35. The Netherlands had 29.

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The regulatory setup basically hands banks a shortcut. Under MiCA's Article 60, EU credit institutions can offer crypto-asset services by notifying their home regulator 40…

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Banks already have all of that. Compliance teams, capital frameworks, customer verification systems — it's infrastructure they built years ago for traditional finance.

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More context: CFTC Moves Quickly to Submit Crypto Rulebook After CLARITY Act Fails in Senate

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A July report flagged that compliance costs tied to governance, capital requirements, and anti-money laundering obligations could squeeze smaller non-bank providers hard.

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Once a provider gets authorized in one EU member state, MiCA's passporting system lets them offer services across the entire bloc without separate authorizations in each country.

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The operational requirements don't disappear just because you're a bank, though. MiCA still demands specific protocols around governance, risk management, and client asset…

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And the contrast with the U.S. is sharp. American banks can perform some digital-asset services — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has clarified that national banks…

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