ESMA MiCA register adds 14 new CASPs

TLDR

ESMA has added 14 new crypto asset service providers to the EU MiCA register, lifting licensed CASPs to 294 and reinforcing the shift toward regulated crypto venues in Europe.

1. The latest MiCA update adds 14 CASPs, including Ripple Payments Europe and several banks, bringing the total licensed firms to 294.
2. MiCA licensing gives these firms EU?wide passporting, while most previously registered providers missed the July 1 deadline and now face stricter enforcement.
3. Next, watch weekly register updates, stablecoin authorizations, and actions against non?compliant platforms as EU regulators tighten the crypto market perimeter.

Deep Dive

1. What ESMA Just Added

ESMAs interim MiCA register update on 16 July added 14 new crypto asset service providers, taking the total number of licensed CASPs to 294, up from 280 in the prior post?deadline batch. This follows a larger 3 July update that added 37 firms after MiCAs transitional period ended, indicating licensing momentum is now slowing but continuing on a weekly cadence.

New entries include Ripple Payments Europe, Portugals Bison Bank, Croatias state?owned Hrvatska potanska banka, two German cooperative banks, and Liechtensteins Kaiser Partner Privatbank, showing more traditional financial institutions entering the regulated crypto space under MiCAs rules. This expansion is documented in ESMAs latest register summary and related coverage of the MiCA licensing slowdown.

ESMA also reported no changes to its electronic money token (EMT) and asset?referenced token (ART) registers, which still show 21 EMT issuers and no ART issuers approved.

2. Why MiCA Licensing Matters

MiCA replaces fragmented national regimes with a single EU framework. Once a firm secures CASP authorization from one national regulator, it can passport services across the European Economic Area, a key benefit highlighted in the Ripple Payments Europe CASP approval.

By late June, ESMAs interim register showed around 244 valid MiCA CASP authorizations, compared with nearly 3,000 providers under old national regimes. Only about 280 had licenses by the July 1 deadline, meaning the majority of previously registered firms failed to transition and must stop covered services or relocate.

At the same time, ESMA and national regulators are expanding a non?compliant register, which now includes over 160 entities following recent actions by Italys CONSOB, underscoring growing enforcement risk for unlicensed platforms.

3. What Crypto Users Should Watch

Regulators have signaled that ESMAs MiCA register will be updated regularly as national authorities process applications. Watching which big exchanges, payment firms, and banks appear on or vanish from the register will help track where regulated liquidity concentrates.

Stablecoins are another key frontier. So far, only 21 EMT issuers are listed and no ART issuers are approved, while some major stablecoin providers have chosen not to pursue MiCA authorization. Parallel commentary from AMLA and ECB officials warns that customer migration into licensed platforms and compliant stablecoins could strain firms anti?money laundering controls and reshape bank deposit bases.

For everyday crypto users, the practical signal is whether their chosen venue or payment provider appears on the MiCA CASP register and, over time, whether EMT or ART stablecoins they use gain formal approval.

Conclusion

ESMAs addition of 14 new CASPs is a modest numerical change but a meaningful continuation of Europes move toward a fully licensed crypto market. A growing mix of crypto natives and traditional banks now operate under MiCA, while many legacy providers fall outside the new perimeter. Over the coming months, the composition of the CASP, EMT, and ART registers, together with enforcement against non?compliant platforms, will shape where regulated crypto activity and stablecoin usage concentrate in the EU.