4 crypto startups earn MiCA licenses from Dutch watchdog

Dutch regulators have granted four digital asset service operators new crypto licenses, allowing them to operate anywhere in the European Union under MiCA.

MoonPay, BitStaete, FinTech ZBD and Hidden Road were approved by the Netherlands Financial Markets Authority to receive crypto asset markets licenses in the Netherlands.

Registration with the Dutch AFM paves the way for MoonPay’s crypto payments platform, BitStaete’s digital asset management business, FinTech ZBD’s Bitcoin Lightning service and Hidden Road’s authorized broker to operate in one of the 27 EU member countries.

The four companies join the likes of Circle and Socios.com in seeking regulatory approval under the EU’s new regulatory pathway.

Mica represents the first complete set of cryptographic rules in a major block. As part of this, companies must obtain a crypto asset service provider license from an EU member country.

The laws stemming from EU rules came into full force on December 30, and union members had to implement them by that date. However, countries have faced bottlenecks in implementing MiCA.

The UK, which left the EU in 2020, rushed to attract the crypto sector after the creation of MiCA. Crypto trading company GRS Market recently brand approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority.

Meanwhile, companies with customers in the EU have removed non-compliant tokens from their platforms. Coinbase and other exchanges written off tokens like those of Tether (USDT) stablecoin as operators adapt to the new regulatory regime.