Regulations
By Maheen Hernandez
1 / 15
57 Firms, One Registry, No More Waiting. Fifty-seven firms cleared the bar. ESMA's approval process wasn't a rubber stamp — the scrutiny…
2 / 15
What the Passport Actually Means for Standard Chartered. For Standard Chartered specifically, the MiCA passport fits into a broader push to expand digital…
3 / 15
Europe's Broader Regulatory Bet. The EU has been pretty explicit about what it's trying to do here.
4 / 15
Standard Chartered got its MiCA passport. The European Securities and Markets Authority quietly updated its registry and now lists 57 crypto firms authorized to operate under the…
5 / 15
That's a pretty big deal. MiCA is the EU's attempt to stop the patchwork of national crypto rules that made cross-border operations a nightmare for years.
6 / 15
The ESMA update also marks the end of the EU's MiCA transition period. That window gave firms time to get their compliance houses in order before the full rules kicked in.
7 / 15
Fifty-seven firms cleared the bar. ESMA's approval process wasn't a rubber stamp — the scrutiny was real, designed to weed out operations that couldn't meet MiCA's consumer…
8 / 15
The registry itself is significant beyond just the number. It's basically a public signal — to institutional investors, to retail customers, to other regulators — that these 57…
9 / 15
And the list is expected to grow. More firms are likely working through the authorization process, and ESMA will keep updating the registry as new approvals come through.
10 / 15
Related: MiCAs Transition Deadline Hits EU Crypto Firms With Uneven Enforcement Risk
11 / 15
Traditional banks entering the crypto space isn't new at this point. It's been happening for a few years.
12 / 15
The question now is what Standard Chartered actually does with the passport. The authorization is there. The framework is set.
13 / 15
The EU has been pretty explicit about what it's trying to do here. By building MiCA and enforcing it, Brussels is positioning Europe as the benchmark for crypto regulation…
14 / 15
Stablecoin adoption and crypto trading volumes across Europe have grown sharply over recent years, and regulators have felt the pressure to catch up.
15 / 15
For competition and innovation inside the EU, the effects are probably mixed in the short term. Compliance costs are real.
The Currency Analytics
Want the full story?