eToro receives Cyprus registration ahead of MiCa rollout

eToro received Crypto Asset Service Provider registration from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The social trading app, which offers both crypto and traditional stocks, is preparing for the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets framework to come into effect.

MiCa passed the EU parliament back in April with overwhelming support for the regulatory framework, which aims to enforce clearer crypto regulation.

The Cyprus registration will allow eToro to offer crypto services throughout the EU on a “cross-border basis from one single entity.” MiCa is expected to come into effect in December 2024.

eToro’s deputy CEO, Hedva Ber, said that the Cyprus registration “signals that we are 100% ready to embrace a new era for crypto once MiCa comes into effect next year.”

“This new CySEC registration will make it much easier for us to achieve this in a post-MiCA Europe, allowing us to create a more streamlined and efficient offering for European investors who want to trade with crypto assets,” Ber added.

Earlier this summer, Binance’s Cyprus unit applied to be removed from the register of crypto asset service providers. At the time, the crypto exchange said that this decision was in line with its efforts to comply with MiCA, emphasizing a focus on “fewer regulated entities in the EU.”

Binance also withdrew its BaFin application “proactively” in July.

BaFin’s Rupert Schaefer has since published a blog post on the crypto markets, praising the MiCa framework and noting that this opens the door for more “technical standards.”

“As financial regulators, we are sitting in the tower. We must know their characteristics, understand them, know their route and intervene if necessary…Market participants can then also benefit from distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the long term,” he wrote.

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