Quick take:
- Coinbase announced Friday that it has received the MiCA license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF).
- The crypto exchange company will now move its EU headquarters from Ireland to Luxembourg.
- Coinbase becomes the first U.S. crypto exchange to receive the MiCA license.
Coinbase on Friday announced it received the EU’s highly coveted crypto license, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). MiCA is the EU’s umbrella regulation that aims to create a harmonised legal framework for digital assets across all 27 EU member states.
The crypto exchange company said it received the license from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). As part of the company’s strategic move into Europe, Coinbase will now migrate its EU headquarters from Ireland to Luxembourg. It becomes the first U.S. crypto exchange to receive the MiCA license.
“Coinbase is all in on Europe, and we’re advocating for crypto’s future across the continent,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC. “MiCA has set the standard, and Luxembourg is leading the way with its pro-business climate and thoughtful approach to regulation.”
Coinbase will likely be followed up quickly by the Winklevoss brothers’ Gemini crypto exchange platform, which is set to receive a MiCA license from the Maltese authorities after choosing Malta to be its EU crypto hub.
Globally, Coinbase joins the likes of Bybit, OKX, and BitGo, which have all secured their own respective MiCA licenses.
Despite Coinbase’s change of its crypto hub, the company plans to continue investing in Ireland, as it aims to add 50 jobs in its Dublin-based office.
“The decision was made less-so due to Ireland, but rather for the reasons that Luxembourg presented a highly compelling option,” Daniel Seifert, vice president and regional managing director of EMEA at Coinbase, told CNBC.
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