MiCA made the EU crypto licence uniform: instead of a patchwork of national VASP registrations, a single CASP authorisation passported across the whole Union. Luxembourg became one of the main places where that licence is taken — for the same reason as the payment one: the CSSF, reputation, and the ability to assemble a crypto, payment and banking perimeter in one jurisdiction.
What a CASP is and who grants it
A CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) is a licence under the MiCA regulation (2023/1114) for crypto-asset services: exchange, conversion, order execution, custody and transfer. In Luxembourg it is granted and supervised by the CSSF — the same regulator responsible for funds, payment and banking licences. The CASP rules have applied since 30 December 2024; the transitional period for legacy VASPs ends on 1 July 2026, after which operating without a CASP in the EU is illegal (fines up to €5 million or 5% of turnover).
The link with payment and banking licences
The main reason to come to Luxembourg for a CASP is the ability to hold adjacent licences alongside it. A stablecoin under MiCA is an e-money token (EMT), and only a bank or an neobank may issue it; the custody and transfer of an EMT may, from March 2026, also require a payment licence under PSD2. Luxembourg lets you assemble the whole stack under one regulator.
A telling case is Banking Circle: on 15 April 2026 it obtained a CASP from the CSSF and became the first institution in Luxembourg to hold a banking licence, an EMT and a CASP simultaneously. And Zodia Custody (backed by Standard Chartered) added a CSSF payment licence to its CASP — to legally hold and transfer stablecoins.
Who obtained the licence
Over 2026 a notable cohort took shape in Luxembourg: Coinbase Luxembourg S.A. (a CASP from the CSSF in early 2026 plus an neobank in March), Banking Circle (bank + EMT + CASP) and Zodia Custody (CASP + payment licence). These are not random names but infrastructure players for whom institutional acceptance matters more than speed.
Stablecoins (EMTs) are a story of their own
Under MiCA a 1:1 fiat stablecoin is an e-money token. Its issuer must be a bank or an neobank, and the services around it (custody, transfer) increasingly require a second, payment licence. So the stablecoin business concentrates where neobank and banking licences are already granted — and Luxembourg is in the front row alongside France and Ireland.