MiCA's Got 309: BNY's Belgian Cousin Joins Europe's Crypto Compliance Club 🎩

The European Securities and Markets Authority added 15 crypto firms to its interim Markets in Crypto-Assets register on Friday, bringing the total number of licensed crypto-asset service providers operating under the bloc's unified framework to 309. The third update since the July 1 transitional deadline includes a BNY Mellon unit, BNY SA/NV, the Belgian subsidiary of the US banking giant.

Among the new entries are four banking institutions: BNY SA/NV and three German lenders, alongside digital asset platforms BitPay, Coinify and Bleap. Germany and Denmark led the latest additions with three new CASPs each, while Bulgaria and Latvia registered two apiece. Belgium, Cyprus, Liechtenstein and the Netherlands each added one provider.

The German roster now includes cooperative financial societies Spar-und Kreditbank Rheinstetten and VR-Bank Augsburg-Ostallgäu, plus Raiffeisenbank Falkenstein-Wörth. Bulgaria contributed Altcoins BG and Digital Assist, while Denmark added SafeLynx Technologies and Januar, a digital asset infrastructure company. Latvia-registered providers Bleap and Nodu Digital also appear on the list.

The latest update follows ESMA's second post-deadline register revision, which added 14 CASPs including Ripple Payments Europe. No changes were recorded to other MiCA-related registers covering authorized issuers of asset-referenced tokens, e-money tokens and crypto assets, or to the list of non-compliant entities.

Industry executives have flagged the operational burden of MiCA compliance as a potential hurdle for smaller market participants. Gate Europe CEO Giovanni Cunti has said some licensed companies may struggle to sustain the compliance resources required over the long term, even as the register of approved providers continues to expand.