Germany has extended its lead in the EU’s MiCA licensing rollout, after ESMA added six more crypto asset service providers registered under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. With the latest update, the total number of authorized CASPs across the European Union now stands at 331.
In the previous ESMA register update on Aug. 12, the additions were also reflected in the count. The most recent change, released on Friday, specifically increases Germany’s share by adding six German cooperative banks to the list of licensed entities.
Key takeaways
- ESMA’s MiCA register now lists 331 authorized crypto asset service providers (CASPs) after Friday’s update.
- Germany added six new CASPs, all cooperative banks, bringing the country’s total to 79.
- Germany leads the EU standings by CASPs, ahead of France (35) and the Netherlands (29).
- ESMA’s non-CASPs datasets tied to asset-referenced tokens (ART), electronic money tokens (EMT), and non-compliant entities were unchanged.
ESMA adds six German cooperative banks
According to ESMA’s MiCA register update published on Friday, six entities were added to the list of authorized crypto asset service providers. Compared with the Aug. 12 update, each of the newly registered providers is German and operates as a cooperative bank:
- Raiffeisenbank Aidlingen
- Ihre Volksbank
- VR-Bank Mittelfranken Mitte
- Volksbank Euskirchen
- VR Bank Ried-Überwald
- Volksbank Backnang
This expansion reinforces Germany’s position as the most active EU market in terms of MiCA authorizations, at a time when investors are watching which jurisdictions are moving fastest through the new regulatory framework.
Germany’s MiCA authorization gap widens
Germany now accounts for 79 CASPs under MiCA, compared with France’s 35 and the Netherlands’ 29, based on ESMA figures previously reviewed by Cointelegraph. The country’s lead has also been building quickly: Germany’s total stood at 57 CASPs in late June, when Cointelegraph reported that Germany was already ahead in the number of authorizations.
The pace matters because MiCA authorization is a prerequisite for compliant crypto-asset services across the EU. A larger number of authorized providers can translate into broader availability of regulated services for users in that country and potentially more competition among licensed entities.
Why Germany has more CASPs than its peers
Germany’s higher authorization count reflects structural features of its financial sector and how existing regulatory pathways mapped onto MiCA’s implementation. In June, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) told Cointelegraph that the high number of MiCA authorizations is partly due to the country’s large financial industry and the number of credit institutions that are eligible to offer crypto services.
BaFin also pointed to Germany’s earlier national licensing regime. The regulator said that this established framework allowed some CASPs to benefit from simplified authorization procedures during the transition to MiCA, helping explain why the authorizations in Germany accelerated earlier and at a higher volume than in some other jurisdictions.
Token-category registers remain stable
Beyond the CASP register, ESMA maintains datasets related to specific token classifications. In the Friday update, those token-category datasets did not change: the asset-referenced token (ART) register remained empty, the electronic money token (EMT) register continued to show 43 entries, and the list of non-compliant entities stayed at 167.
For market participants, these static figures are useful context. While the number of licensed service providers is climbing, the token-category registers indicate that the regulatory focus is still separating the licensing progress of service firms from the readiness and reporting status of token issuers or categories tracked under ESMA’s framework.
Readers should watch the next ESMA register releases for whether Germany’s additions continue at the same pace, and whether any movement appears in the ART and non-compliant entity datasets—areas that remain unchanged despite growth in CASP authorizations.
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