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Coinbase has secured regulatory approval to operate across the European Union under the Markets in Crypto Assets framework, the company announced Friday.
The license, granted by Luxembourg's financial authorities, allows Coinbase to provide crypto services across all 27 EU member states.
Its announcement confirms weeks of speculation that Coinbase, alongside rival exchange Gemini, was preparing to register under MiCA.
Coinbase said Luxembourg was chosen due to its "whole-of-government" approach to blockchain and four blockchain-related laws passed in recent years.
"Over the past few years, Coinbase has worked closely with regulators across Europe, securing licences in Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain," the company said.
"Now, with MiCA, we're uniting these efforts under a single framework, enabling millions of Europeans to access regulated, trusted, and secure crypto services."
MiCA, which came into force in June 2023, creates a standardized licensing regime for crypto asset service providers within the EU. A license in one country allows a firm to "passport" services across the bloc.
While member states retain limited powers to block operations if there is a legal basis to do so, a country generally cannot stop a licensed firm from offering services within its borders.
This setup has sparked criticism from some corners of the industry and among regulators, who say it creates incentives for firms to register in jurisdictions with fewer regulatory resources.
Coinbase’s license in Luxembourg and Gemini’s ongoing attempt to register in Malta follow a string of approvals in those countries for firms including OKX, Bitstamp, and Crypto.com.
That said, it didn’t stop Malta from fining OKX $1.2 million in April for past AML compliance failures.
Nevertheless, the scale of operations in the countries where firms set up is often tiny compared to their EU-wide impact.
Critics, such as Peter Curk, CEO of the U.K. crypto portfolio management platform ICONOMI, have previously warned that this could lead to a "race to the bottom" in enforcement standards.
He told Decrypt earlier this month that having countries with lower regulatory capacity grant licenses to companies could "[dilute] consumer protection and cross‑border trust.”
"The debate isn’t just about licenses, it’s about the EU’s collective reputation in digital finance," he added.
The European Securities and Markets Authority is currently reviewing Malta’s licensing process and is planning to produce a report on its findings.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair