Germany extends MiCA lead as six more banks secure crypto licenses

Germany has extended its lead in European Union MiCA authorizations after six cooperative banks joined the latest register, taking the country’s total number of licensed crypto asset service providers to 79. Summary Six German cooperative banks were added to ESMA’s latest MiCA register. Germany now leads the EU with 79 authorized CASPs, ahead of France with 35 and the Netherlands with 29. The EU’s total number of authorized crypto asset service providers has increased to 331. ESMA’s token and non compliant entity registers remained unchanged. The European Securities and Markets Authority updated its interim Markets in Crypto Assets register on Friday, raising the number of authorized crypto asset service providers, or CASPs, across Europe to 331. Compared with ESMA’s Aug. 12 update, all six newly added providers were German cooperative banks: Raiffeisenbank Aidlingen, Ihre Volksbank, VR Bank Mittelfranken Mitte, Volksbank Euskirchen, VR Bank Ried Überwald and Volksbank Backnang. Germany now has more than twice as many authorized CASPs as France, which ranks second with 35, while the Netherlands follows with 29. Germany’s MiCA lead has widened since June Germany already held the top...