Policy Event Β· Medium impact

MiCA Register Shows Bank CASPs Roughly Doubling Since June

Analysis of the ESMA MiCA register found the number of bank crypto-asset service providers rising from about 40 to about 80 between late June and mid-September. The trend pushes EU crypto services further into bank-grade capital, governance, audit and passporting expectations while increasing pressure on non-bank CASPs.

Medium impact🌐 EULicensingBankingRegulationEURCESMA

APAC FINSTAB analysis

Although this is outside core APAC, it is relevant because global market-structure, enforcement, and stablecoin precedents often shape licensing expectations for APAC exchanges, issuers, custodians, and DeFi teams. Protocols/assets in scope: EURC. Named institutions or platforms: ESMA. Teams should monitor the original source, map the change to licensing, custody, disclosure, and market-access obligations, and update their jurisdiction playbooks before the next compliance review.

Compliance read-through: map this event to entity licensing, market-access, custody, disclosure, token listing, and operational-risk obligations before expanding or marketing in the affected jurisdiction.

View related Licensing tracker page β†’

Related policy events

CPC Decision Targets Crypto-Enabled Corruption And Cross-Border Asset Recovery

A CPC Central Committee decision published by Xinhua calls for resolute action against corruption involving the internet, virtual currencies, cross-border funds, and blockchain, alongside stronger cross-border casework and asset recovery. The policy signal increases expectations for transaction tracing, beneficial-owner checks, and cooperation with enforcement requests at digital-asset intermediaries.

High impactπŸ‡¨πŸ‡³ ChinaRegulationAMLEnforcement

FCA Consults On DeFi Guidance For Regulated Firms

The UK Financial Conduct Authority opened GC26/7 consultation on non-Handbook guidance for regulated firms using DeFi, covering operational resilience, financial-crime controls and Money Laundering Regulations obligations. The guidance would clarify how existing controls apply to DeFi dependencies such as smart contracts, bridges and oracle services.

High impactπŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ United KingdomRegulationAMLDeFi