From 243 to 280 in One Update: ESMA's MiCA Register Grew Faster Than a Block 🍴

The European Securities and Markets Authority published the first update to its interim Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register since the regulation's transitional period ended July 1, adding 37 licensed crypto-asset service providers and lifting the total to 280, up from 243 in the June 26 file. The batch captured the late-stage licensing rush that preceded the grandfathering deadline, with the register showing 36 crypto-asset service provider authorizations dated between June 23 and July 1 and 13 authorizations logged on June 30 alone.

Standard Chartered secured MiCA authorization from Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) on June 25, alongside a separate Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license granted to Standard Chartered Luxembourg S.A. "Securing our MiCA and EMI licences is a key step in progressing our digital asset journey in Europe," Standard Chartered's global head of financing, Margaret Harwood-Jones, said. The bank opened Standard Chartered Luxembourg in 2025 to anchor its EU digital asset custody operations. "We are delighted to have obtained our MiCA and EMI licences, which enables us to progressively expand services to clients across Europe. This landmark authorisation reflects our strategic choice of Luxembourg," said Laurent Marochini, CEO of Standard Chartered Luxembourg. The Standard Chartered entry builds on its Asia and Middle East custody launches and its work with Circle to bring USDC minting onto banking rails.

Other new entrants include crypto prime broker FalconX, Sygnum Europe and Ronin EM, with Crédit Agricole's CACEIS entering the register of electronic money token (EMT) issuers. Cyprus led the latest wave of MiCA authorizations with six new crypto-asset service provider (CASP) entries, followed by France, Italy and Malta with five each, the Czech Republic and Spain with four each, Luxembourg with three and the Netherlands with two, while Germany, Liechtenstein and Latvia each recorded one new entry. The approvals bring CySEC's total to 21 MiCA authorizations. BaFin in Germany remains the top authority by volume, with 57 records on the interim register as of the latest upload, according to one tally, while another analysis of the data cited 59 German entries. France holds 31, the Netherlands between 26 and 28, Malta 22 and Cyprus 21.

The register also shows that CASP totals do not translate one-to-one into exchange count. Only 17 firms in the file are authorized to operate a crypto trading platform, with custody, transfer services, order execution and crypto-to-fiat exchange permissions appearing far more frequently across the 280 entries. No changes were recorded on the asset-referenced token (ART) side, where the issuer list remains empty, while the count of non-compliant entities held at 162. ESMA had warned that unauthorized providers serving EU clients should stop onboarding new customers and begin winding down regulated activities once the transition period closed, leaving grandfathered firms that missed the deadline unable to continue serving EU clients under national rules.