Germany extends its MiCA lead as six more banks get crypto licenses
Germany has widened its lead in the EU’s MiCA register after six more cooperative banks were added, bringing the country to 79 authorized crypto asset service providers out of 331 across the bloc, according to ESMA’s latest interim update.
- Germany now leads the EU with 79 authorized CASPs
- Six new entries are all German cooperative banks
- MiCA passporting can expand one national license across the bloc
- Traditional banks are becoming a bigger part of crypto distribution
The six newly listed firms are Raiffeisenbank Aidlingen, Ihre Volksbank, VR Bank Mittelfranken Mitte, Volksbank Euskirchen, VR Bank Ried Überwald, and Volksbank Backnang. They are not the usual suspects in crypto culture-war theater. They are part of Germany’s cooperative banking network, and that is exactly why this matters.
MiCA is the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. A CASP, or crypto asset service provider, is a firm authorized to offer regulated crypto services such as custody, exchange, trading platform operation, client order execution, portfolio management, and transfers. In plain English: if a business wants to handle customer crypto in the EU, MiCA is now the gatekeeper.
The register numbers are useful, but they are still a moving target. ESMA says its interim MiCA register is updated regularly, and the figures it publishes are snapshots rather than a permanent scoreboard. So 79 and 331 are the best read on the register right now, not some holy blockchain tablet dropped from Brussels.
Germany’s lead is more than a vanity metric. Under MiCA, once a firm is authorized by one national competent authority, it can use passporting rights to notify other EU countries and offer covered services across the bloc. That does not mean instant free-for-all market access, but it does mean one approval can go a lot further than a local license ever could.
France is next with 35 authorized CASPs, followed by the Netherlands with 29. Germany has added 22 authorized providers since the late-June snapshot cited in the materials, while the wider European register has increased by 87 over the same span. The direction is clear: firms are still filing, authorities are still processing, and Germany is moving faster than most.
BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, has pointed to a simple explanation for the country’s strong showing. Germany has a large financial sector, a high number of credit institutions that can provide crypto services, and a pre-existing framework that already treated crypto custody as a regulated financial service before MiCA became fully applicable. If the plumbing was already there, MiCA was less of a rebuild and more of a formal handoff.
That head start also explains why the German bank names keep showing up. MiCA included transitional arrangements that let firms keep operating under old national regimes while they applied for authorization. Those transitional measures reached their final deadline on July 1, 2026. In other words, this is the part where institutions either got their paperwork in order or risked being left outside the new rulebook.
The bigger shift is not just legal. It is distribution.
A July report said DZ Bank had begun rolling out crypto trading through participating cooperative banks. DZ Bank received BaFin approval under MiCA in January for its meinKrypto platform after about a year of trials, with support for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Cardano. Boerse Stuttgart Digital was selected to handle custody.
That is a meaningful step for retail access. Crypto is no longer confined to exchanges, fintech apps, and the usual parade of “revolutionary” platforms that tend to evaporate the moment compliance gets real. It is moving into the banking system where customers already hold money, make transfers, and trust the brand on the screen.
There is also a hard-nosed reading here, because banks rarely do anything out of love for decentralization. They move when regulation makes the market legible, customer demand is there, and the economics make sense. That does not make the shift fake. It makes it very bank-like: no ideology, just incentives.
MiCA is also broadening beyond simple exchange and custody approvals. ESMA’s background materials say the framework covers custody, operation of trading platforms, exchange of crypto assets for funds or other crypto assets, execution of client orders, portfolio management, and transfer services. That breadth is why the register counts matter: they tell you where the infrastructure is actually being built.
Not every register is filling up at the same pace, though. ESMA’s asset-referenced token register remains empty, while the electronic money token register stands at 43 entries. Asset-referenced tokens are the MiCA category for tokens that aim to hold value by referencing another asset or basket of assets. The empty register suggests that part of the market is still thin, slow, or waiting for issuers to decide the compliance burden is worth the trouble.
Meanwhile, the presence of 43 electronic money token entries shows that not all token categories are equally stuck. Electronic money tokens are the MiCA bucket for tokens intended to keep a stable value by referencing a single official currency. That side of the market is moving, even if other categories are still gathering dust.
ESMA is also doing the less glamorous part of regulation: supervision after approval. In July, it launched a review of MiCA-authorized crypto custodians covering operational resilience, custody controls, key management, incident response procedures, and risks tied to third-party service providers. Put simply, regulators want to know whether a custodian can keep customer assets safe, recover from an attack, and avoid outsourcing critical risk to some random vendor with a slick pitch deck.
That is the part a lot of the industry hates, because paperwork is boring and audits do not make for viral conference panels. But it is also the difference between a licensed market and a cosplay one.
Germany’s lead does not mean the country has become a crypto utopia. It does show something concrete: the EU’s crypto market is being pulled toward jurisdictions with deeper financial infrastructure, clearer pre-existing rules, and institutions large enough to make licensing worthwhile. The winners so far are not loud speculators. They are banks, custodians, and regulated firms that know how to work within a system.
That has a real upside. Better custody, clearer oversight, and easier access for ordinary users are all good things. It also has a cost. The more crypto flows through banks and compliance-heavy intermediaries, the less room there is for the wild, permissionless edge that made Bitcoin and crypto matter in the first place. Welcome to the trade-off: broader adoption usually comes wearing a tie.
Key takeaways
- Why is Germany ahead in MiCA licensing?
Germany entered MiCA with a large financial sector, many eligible credit institutions, and an existing regulatory framework that already covered crypto custody. That gave its firms a head start. - What does MiCA passporting do?
A CASP authorized in one EU country can notify other member states and offer covered services across the bloc. It is not instant magic, but it can turn one national approval into much broader market access. - Why do cooperative banks matter here?
They show crypto is being pushed into mainstream retail banking, not just exchanges and fintech apps. For users, that can mean easier access; for the market, it means crypto is becoming more regulated and more ordinary. - Is MiCA finished now that more licenses are being issued?
No. ESMA is still updating the register, transitional arrangements only recently ran their course, and supervisors are already reviewing licensed custodians. Authorization is the start of the regulatory process, not the end. - What does the empty asset-referenced token register suggest?
It suggests that part of the MiCA framework is still thinly populated. Issuers may be moving slowly, or demand may simply not be strong enough yet to push more approvals.
Germany’s lead is a sign of where Europe’s crypto market is headed: more bank-led, more compliance-heavy, and more portable across borders. That may make the system safer and more usable for mainstream customers, but it also means the industry is maturing inside the very institutions it once set out to route around. Funny how that works.
Further reading
A few related developments show how MiCA is reshaping Europe’s crypto railings from a few different angles.
