CoinShares (CS) said it received a license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, the first crypto asset manager based in continental Europe to qualify.
The approval allows the Saint Helier, Jersey-based firm to offer crypto portfolio management services across the 27-nation bloc under a single, harmonized regulatory framework. Operations are already passported to countries including Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and it may expand further, the company said.
The license, granted by France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), joins CoinShares’ existing permissions under the EU’s MiFID and AIFM directives. That, the company says, makes it the only major European asset manager to hold all three credentials.
It’s a step the firm says could help open the 33 trillion euro ($38.7 trillion) European asset management industry to more fully regulated cryptocurrency investment products.
“Receiving MiCA authorisation from the AMF is a pivotal milestone, not just for CoinShares, but for the entire European digital asset industry,” CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said in the statement. “With MiCA, we now have a clear, harmonized structure across the EU, and CoinShares is proud to be the first in continental Europe to meet that standard as a fully regulated asset manager.”
Various other cryptocurrency firms, it’s worth adding, have secured MiCA licenses, including exchanges Coinbase, Bybit, OKX, and Crypto.com.
Founded in 2013 and publicly traded on Nasdaq Stockholm, CoinShares says it manages over $9 billion in assets.
The company’s shares rose 1.7% to 120 krona ($12.66). They’re up more than 46% year-to-date.