Coinbase and Gemini: The Euro-Crypto Conquest 🏦💰

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Amidst the bustling world of cryptocurrencies, where the digital and the traditional often collide, two titans of the trade, Coinbase and Gemini, are setting their sights on the European Union. These licences, as they are quaintly called, will allow these firms to operate across the continent, much to the chagrin of local regulators who are beginning to voice their concerns about the speed and ease with which these approvals are granted. 🚀

Crypto Firms and MiCA Licenses

According to Reuters, the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, are on the cusp of receiving a license from Malta, the EU’s tiniest nation, which has become a hotbed for crypto firms. It seems that within weeks of the introduction of the Markets in Crypto Asset (MiCA) regulation, OKX and Crypto.com were already basking in the glow of Maltese approval. This rapid-fire granting of licenses has raised eyebrows and a few stern words from other national regulators. 🏴‍☠️

Meanwhile, Coinbase is expected to secure a license from Luxembourg, a process that has been in the pipeline for several weeks. A Coinbase spokesperson, with a touch of diplomatic flair, noted that Luxembourg is a “high-bar, well-respected global financial centre.” The firm also plans to expand its presence in the country by adding over 20 new employees by year’s end. 🏢

In the grand tradition of regulatory approval, ZBD, a well-known payment company, was the first to receive a MiCA license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) in December 2024. Not to be outdone, MoonPay, Bitstamp, and Hidden Road also secured their MiCA licenses from the Netherlands in the same month. 🇳🇱

At the dawn of the new year, Boerse Stuttgart Digital expanded its services with a MiCA license from BaFin in Germany, followed closely by Bitpanda, which received its MiCA license in January from the same German regulator. With these licenses, the firms can now offer their services to all 27 EU member states, thanks to the uniform regulatory framework provided by MiCA. 🇪🇺

🇪🇺 Gemini and Coinbase are poised to obtain EU-wide licenses under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, according to Reuters 🪪

— Yumi Space 🍁 (@yumispacee) June 14, 2025

Concerns About Speed and Rigor of MiCA License Approval

As 2024 drew to a close, the MiCA regulation was rolled out in the EU with a particular focus on stablecoins. This regulation aims to bring crypto operations under a set of functional rules, leveling the playing field with the Traditional Finance (TradFi) system. Under this framework, EU member states are authorized to issue licenses that grant crypto companies access to the 27-nation bloc. However, some regulators have raised concerns in closed-door meetings, as reported by unnamed sources. 🤫

These regulators are particularly worried about the speed with which licenses are being granted and the rigor of the approval process. They fear that this leniency could lead to a host of problems, including fraud, market instability, and illicit financial flows. If the industry is left unsupervised or the MiCA rules are not uniformly enforced, the entire purpose of the regulation could be undermined. 🚨

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2025-06-15 01:23