MoonPay’s Crypto Platform Approved Under Europe’s MiCA Rule

Digital assets platform MoonPay said it is among the first companies approved under Europe’s cryptocurrency regulation.

The company secured approval under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, passed by the European Parliament last year, according to a Monday (Dec. 30) press release.

The rule creates a unified regulatory environment for digital assets in the European Economic Area (EEA) and, per the release, is a sign of MoonPay’s readiness to expand its footprint in the region while maintaining security and compliance.

“This approval is a testament to MoonPay’s proactive approach to regulation and our commitment to building a trusted bridge between the traditional financial world and the rapidly evolving crypto ecosystem,” MoonPay co-founder and CEO Ivan Soto-Wright said in the release. “MiCA represents a pivotal moment for the European digital asset industry, and we’re proud to have worked collaboratively with the Dutch AFM to be among the first to embrace this new regulatory framework.”

MiCA is the first set of uniform crypto rules to be enforced across a large geography, with the full framework going into effect Monday, the release said.

“The notion of witnessing major global laws enshrining stablecoins into the financial system of the third-largest economy in the world is something that would have been inconceivable just a short 10 years ago,” PYMNTS wrote in July. “What it also means is that there will be no more shortcuts and regulatory corner-cutting for crypto and Web3 firms — at least not in Europe.”

This year saw stablecoin issuer Tether announce it was pulling issuance and operational support for its euro-pegged stablecoin, EURT, in Europe. According to MiCA, stablecoin issuers need to have an electronic money license in at least one European Union member state in order to operate across the 27-country bloc.

Meanwhile, regulations such as MiCA are emerging as arbiters of the future of the Web3 payments/commerce infrastructure. Each jurisdiction approaches digital asset regulation with its own priorities, but the implications for businesses using these technologies are far-reaching and complex, potentially setting the stage for new norms around B2B payments and cross-border transactions.