CASP License

MiCA sorts crypto-asset services into three classes by risk, each with its own minimum capital. Class 1 covers advice on crypto-assets, order reception and transmission, and placing crypto-assets on behalf of an issuer, with 50,000 euros in minimum capital. Class 2 adds exchanging crypto-assets for funds or other crypto-assets and portfolio management, at 125,000 euros. Class 3, the highest tier, covers custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, operating a trading platform for crypto-assets, and providing transfer services, and needs 150,000 euros. A firm that plans to offer several of these services applies for the highest class its activities reach, and a supervisor can set a capital figure above the minimum once it has reviewed the firm's size and risk profile.

Beyond the capital figure, MiCA requires a documented governance and risk framework, fit-and-proper assessments of the firm's management, and a working anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing program before a supervisor grants authorization. The application also has to describe the firm's IT systems, its business continuity plan, its complaints-handling process, and, for a firm offering custody, exactly how it segregates client crypto-assets from its own holdings. A complete application file to BaFin commonly runs past 200 pages before the first round of supervisory feedback, and processing has taken twelve to twenty-four months for firms already through the process. A firm applying today plans for a long lead time and an early start, not a quick registration.

DZ Bank received BaFin authorization in December 2025 for its meinKrypto custody platform. Deutsche Bank expects its own license in the second half of 2026, covering custody of bitcoin, ether and stablecoins. Across the EU, more than 350 firms held a CASP license as of 2026. ESMA publishes a central register of every crypto-asset service provider authorized by a national supervisor. BaFin keeps a matching German register, and both let a reader confirm a firm's MiCA license before relying on it.

MiCA's transitional period, which let a firm keep operating under its old national registration while its CASP application was pending, ended on July 1, 2026. Every crypto firm serving EU customers now needs a granted CASP license, and ESMA has told providers still without one to wind down their EU business in an orderly way. Before the deadline, a firm could compete on being MiCA-ready; after it, holding the license became the condition for operating in the EU at all, and a customer checking the ESMA or BaFin register can see whether a firm actually cleared that bar.

CASP authorization, compliance and custody were among the topics of the Forum für Digitale Vermögenswerte, a German-language forum with Finance Loop as a partner, and Finance Loop partners with OKX, a crypto exchange that operates under a MiCA license in Europe. At the Bybit EU Crypto Evening at TechQuartier, a senior policy director spoke on compliance under MiCAR. The CASP license sits in Finance Loop's Risk & Compliance track. Related pages: MiCA in Germany, MiCAR and crypto custody.

CASP stands for crypto-asset service provider, the term MiCA uses for a firm licensed to offer services such as custody, exchange, trading platform operation, advice or portfolio management on crypto-assets in the EU. A firm needs the license whether it is a crypto-native exchange or a traditional bank adding crypto services to its existing business.

MiCA sets three tiers: 50,000 euros for advisory and order-related services, 125,000 euros for exchange and portfolio management, and 150,000 euros for custody, trading platform operation and transfer services. A national supervisor can require more based on a firm's risk profile.

Yes. A CASP license granted by one EU national supervisor, such as BaFin in Germany, passports automatically to every other member state, so the firm does not need a separate license in each country it serves. The firm still has to notify each host supervisor before it starts offering services there, and it stays subject to the supervisor that granted the original license for day-to-day oversight.