After cryptocurrency and digital assets were regulated as Norwegian law from 1. In July, Norwegian, Nordic and international players are starting to position themselves for the Norwegian crypto market. Both K33 and Firi now confirm that they have applied for a MICA license.
There are currently 13 companies that hold a so-called VASP (Virtual Asset Sercice Provider) license with the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. All of these can operate on the basis of this Norwegian license until December 30, when the MICA rules come into full force. Along the way, it is expected that many of the small exchanges will fall off, as MiCA requires both increased capital and increased expertise.
MiCA, or Markets in Crypto Assets, involves both threats and opportunities for crypto brokers and exchanges. For example, Norwegian crypto companies with a MICA license in the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority will be able to pass this passport to all other EU/EEA countries, thus reaching a market of 450 million people. But similarly, crypto players from other countries can attack the Norwegian market with a MICA license from another country. In this article, we focus on the situation in Norway.
When K33 presented its results report for the second quarter today, the company also confirmed that a MICA application had been submitted to the Financial Supervisory Authority. Companies also stated that they expect a back-and-forth process with the FSA until a final approval is likely to be made before Christmas.
Thuc Hoang, CEO of Firi, also confirms to Kaupr that their MICA application has been submitted a few weeks ago. Firi has also applied for a MICA license in Denmark, but in this part of a longer video interview with Kaupr, he confirms that the goal is a MICA license in Norway.
We've also inquired about the status of NBX, Bare Bitcoin and JuJu, which most people expect are going to apply for a MICA license.
By the way, the list of companies with a local VASP license from the Financial Supervisory Authority includes a combination of active but small companies, and crypto exchanges that in practice run on a low-flare basis. It is therefore expected that several of these will not apply for a MICA license and will therefore have to cease operations before Christmas. For example, Valuno, parent company of Norwegian licensee Balder Solutions, has had its MICA application rejected by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
Incidentally, we have asked Bitcoins Norway, Bitgate Services, Bitcoin and Tyr Markets about their possible MICA plans.
The VASP list at the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority also includes two international players. Austrian company Bitpanda received a license several years ago, but in practice has made little use of it, and is expected to adopt its passport license from Germany or Malta to Norway. Similar could probably happen with Danish Lunar Bank, which launched crypto trading in Norway in January of this year.
We've also previously covered how the global stock exchange OKX has positioned itself for a nordic race and crypto trading both in Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. Finnish Kvarn X, which has not yet obtained a MICA license in Finland, has also faced Kaupr confirmed its expansion plans for Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Swedish Safello have confirmed that they have handed in a MICA application in Sweden, and has also confirmed Nordic and international ambitions, as have Swedish GreenMerc and Goobit/BTCX. Also, Finnish Coinmotion, which has recently searched for a country manager in Sweden, will soon also be able to end up in a Norwegian crypto market, which will more and more bear the mark of becoming part of a pan-Nordic crypto market.
