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Kraken has joined the growing list of digital asset companies to obtain a license to operate in the European Union under the bloc’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, providing the company with access to 30 countries in the European market.
In a blog post, Kraken, one of the largest digital asset exchanges in the world by trading volume, announced that it had obtained a MiCA license from Ireland, allowing the exchange to operate across all 30 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
The full MiCA provisions for crypto asset service providers (CASPs), such as exchanges like Kraken, came into force at the beginning of January. This included a mandate that CASPs must obtain a license from a national competent authority (NCA)—an EU member state’s relevant regulator—in order to offer digital asset services within the EEA.
Kraken already maintains Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registrations in a number of EU countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands, but this comes with limited scope, and such registration is generally primarily focused on anti-money laundering and terrorist financing. A MiCA license from Ireland, on the other hand, means the company can now legally operate across the whole of the EEA and must comply with the MiCA obligations—including investor protection, market integrity, prudential requirements, and disclosure—to be enforced by the authorizing NCA.
“Securing a license from the Central Bank of Ireland, with its long heritage and experience as a rigorous financial regulator, isn’t just about compliance. It’s a powerful signal of Kraken’s commitment to expanding the crypto ecosystem through responsible innovation,” said Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken. “Being the first major global crypto platform to receive authorization from the CBI affirms Kraken’s commitment to building for the long term. We believe trust is the most valuable currency in crypto, and it’s something you earn.”
He added that the license places the company “in a strong position to expand our product offering, grow our institutional and retail client base and deliver secure, accessible and fully regulated crypto services to millions more people across the EU.”
Kraken’s announcement comes a week after Reuters reported that fellow digital asset exchange giants Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and Gemini were also on the verge of obtaining MiCA licenses—a fact that, according to the report, was raising some concerns about the rigor with which the regulators were assessing the applications and enforcing the rules.
The regulators under the spotlight were those of Malta—who have been particularly active in approving licenses—and Luxembourg. As yet, no such concerns have been raised with regard to the Central Bank of Ireland.
Kraken—and if the rumors are true, soon Coinbase and Gemini as well—join OKX, Crypto.com, Bybit, and Bitstamp in the growing cohort of digital asset players who have obtained licenses to operate within the EEA under the bloc’s new regulation.
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