MiCA Approval Puts Crossmint on Equal Footing With Banks Across Europe

Markets 2026-01-15 09:49

MiCA Approval Puts Crossmint on Equal Footing With Banks Across Europe

Crossmint has taken a major regulatory step in Europe after receiving authorization under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation from Spain’s financial watchdog, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores.

The approval allows the company to operate as a crypto asset service provider across all twenty-seven European Union countries, effectively granting it regulatory passporting rights throughout the bloc.

Key takeaways:

  • Crossmint is now fully authorized under MiCA to operate across the entire European Union.

  • The license places the company under the same regulatory standards as traditional financial institutions.

  • MiCA is driving enterprise demand toward fully licensed crypto infrastructure providers.

  • Non-compliant firms face growing pressure to exit or migrate clients before the transition period ends.

For Crossmint, the license represents more than a compliance milestone. According to the company’s legal leadership, the process made clear that MiCA does not treat crypto firms as a special case. Instead, it subjects them to the same expectations applied to banks and other traditional financial institutions. That approach, they argue, removes uncertainty for enterprises that previously viewed crypto infrastructure as too risky or loosely regulated.

Rather than creating a softer framework for digital assets, MiCA has standardized supervision across Europe. This consistency, Crossmint says, has replaced the fragmented and experimental phase of the industry with clearer rules and enforcement, making regulated crypto infrastructure more attractive to conservative clients.

What Crossmint is authorized to do under MiCA

The license covers three core activities defined under MiCA’s CASP framework. Crossmint can facilitate exchanges between fiat currencies and crypto assets in both directions, safeguard crypto assets on behalf of customers, and execute transfers between wallets, including transactions across different blockchains.

Notably, the company is not positioning itself as a consumer-facing trading venue. Instead, its focus is on providing stablecoin and blockchain infrastructure for businesses. That includes use cases spanning remittances, payroll services, fintech platforms and digital marketplaces—areas where crypto functions as backend financial infrastructure rather than a speculative product.

Internally, Crossmint treated the authorization process as comparable to obtaining a banking license. The CNMV scrutinized its Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism programs against European Union standards, alongside governance, risk management and operational safeguards. The review took more than eighteen months and involved repeated rounds of regulatory feedback.

The timing of the approval is significant. As the MiCA transition period nears its end, many crypto and fintech companies are now required by internal policy to work only with MiCA-licensed partners. Crossmint says this shift is already driving inbound demand.

Once MiCA’s “grandfathering” arrangements expire—expected around mid-year—providers without authorization may be forced to shut down services or lose access to banking partners and counterparties. Crossmint positions its regulatory approval as a sunk cost that clients can effectively plug into, rather than replicate through a long and expensive licensing process.

Looking beyond the transition, the company expects demand from three groups: firms whose current providers will become unusable, incumbents deciding between full MiCA compliance or market exit, and unlicensed operators pushed out through enforcement. Crossmint also expects to be listed on the European Securities and Markets Authority public register following standard administrative steps.

The regulatory squeeze is already visible across Europe. In Spain, the CNMV has issued guidance that leaves little room for partially regulated crypto businesses, effectively forcing them to upgrade or wind down. In France, the Autorité des marchés financiers has warned that dozens of crypto firms are still operating without MiCA authorization, with only a fraction having applied so far.

Under ESMA guidance, firms that miss the MiCA deadline are expected to carry out orderly wind-downs rather than continue operating. The result is likely to be a smaller but more tightly regulated European crypto market—one where MiCA-compliant infrastructure providers like Crossmint are positioned to absorb the fallout from the transition.

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This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.

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