license

According to CoinDesk, the consortium Qivalis, supported by 37 major European banks, announced that the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has granted it an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, bringing it closer to issuing Euro-denominated electronic money tokens (EMT). The Amsterdam-based company still needs to meet the remaining requirements of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), including publishing a white paper, in order to issue the token in the coming months.This license enables Qivalis to provide a blockchain-based method for transferring Euros for banks and payment institutions. Qivalis plans to distribute its tokens through banks, cryptocurrency exchanges, and payment service providers, rather than directly to consumers. Since its establishment in September 2025, the consortium has expanded to 37 European banks, including BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING, and DZ Bank, and has chosen Fireblocks to provide digital asset infrastructure.According to MiCA regulations, EMTs are classified as stablecoins, but not all stablecoins are EMTs. EMTs are pegged to a single fiat currency and must be issued by authorized credit institutions or electronic money institutions, with holders having legal claims to them and the right to redeem them at face value at any time, and EMTs cannot pay interest.Qivalis CEO Jan-Oliver Sell stated that the currency in Europe should be carried on-chain by European rules, and Europe should have Euro-denominated on-chain settlement assets issued under European law and subject to European regulatory standards.

According to official disclosure, Standard Chartered announced that it has received approval from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in the UAE to officially launch cryptocurrency trading solutions for professional investors in the UAE.Eligible affluent clients can buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) directly through their existing bank accounts, without the need to set up a separate wallet or use third-party platforms.

Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com is applying for a license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to seek both exchange registration and futures broker registration in order to offer derivatives and prediction market services in the United States.The aforementioned services will be aimed at retail and institutional clients, and the business planned to be launched in the United States still requires regulatory approval.

According to the updated data from the official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, the virtual asset trading platform license application submitted by Matrixport HK was withdrawn on October 12.Matrixport HK had submitted the virtual asset trading platform license application to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission on February 26, 2024.

According to PRNewswire, 3iQ's UAE entity 3iQ Middle East Ltd has obtained in-principle approval for a Category 4 license from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), marking an important step in establishing regulated operations locally.3iQ stated that this approval is part of its strategy to expand its regulatory footprint in major global digital asset markets. Previously, 3iQ had formed a strategic partnership with the UAE digital asset investment management company Further and provided institutional investors with digital asset investment channels through the 3iQ Managed Account Platform (QMAP), which has attracted $100 million in sovereign capital-related seed funding.

According to a report by Mobile Payment Network, regarding some payment platforms that are registered only as financial technology companies without obtaining any financial category licenses, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Christopher Hui, stated that appropriate enforcement actions will be taken as necessary under the relevant statutory regulatory framework to maintain financial stability and protect the rights and interests of customers and the public.According to the Hong Kong Payment Systems and Stored Value Payment Instruments Ordinance, unless a statutory exemption is obtained, anyone who issues or operates stored value payment instruments in Hong Kong without a license is committing an offense. If cases of suspected unlicensed operation or violations of the Payment Ordinance are discovered, the Monetary Authority will intervene directly and will collaborate with other relevant regulatory agencies depending on the nature of the case, and will refer the case to law enforcement agencies if necessary.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, SpaceX will acquire the mobile spectrum licenses of Grain Management for approximately 8 billion dollars in cash.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has announced that "Finanx AI/Finax Technology Limited" has been included in the list of unlicensed companies. This entity may have promoted the "FNXAI" and "1FNXAI" tokens to investors through events held in Hong Kong and may have claimed that investing in these tokens could yield high returns.The FNXAI and 1FNXAI tokens were included in the Commission's warning list of suspicious investment products on September 30, 2026. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission pointed out that this entity is not licensed or registered with the Commission to conduct any regulated activities in Hong Kong and is prohibited from engaging in any regulated activities in Hong Kong.

SpaceX has agreed to acquire a nationwide 800 megahertz low-frequency radio spectrum license portfolio.

According to Cointelegraph, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFin) has rejected the application for a crypto asset service provider (CASP) license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) submitted by futurum bank AG, a subsidiary of Bitcoin Group SE. As a result, its operated crypto trading platform Bitcoin.de remains in a state of trading suspension.Bitcoin Group SE subsequently stated that the company is reviewing the decision and reserves the right to appeal or resubmit the application in the future. Meanwhile, the group is seeking alternative operating models and plans to restore trading services as soon as possible through regulated partners. Bitcoin.de was originally a peer-to-peer (P2P) trading market with over 1.1 million registered users; the platform had originally planned to upgrade by the end of June to support over 100 cryptocurrencies, exchange, and staking functions, but this has been delayed due to waiting for MiCA license authorization, and its trading activities have been largely suspended since June 12.

Payment infrastructure company Modern Treasury has submitted an application to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Modern Treasury National Trust Bank, operating as a federally regulated limited-purpose national trust bank, providing digital asset custody and related fiat services.If the application is approved, the bank will allow Modern Treasury customers to custody and transfer stablecoins and fiat through integrated services, but it will not issue stablecoins or provide loans. Modern Treasury co-founder and CEO Matt Marcus stated that stablecoins are the foundational economic infrastructure of the future, and the company has fully integrated stablecoins into its payment platform.Modern Treasury stated that the proposed bank will operate separately from its existing payment business, which has processed over $600 billion in payments among hundreds of institutions. This application comes at a time when crypto and payment companies are competing for national trust bank licenses, with Bastion and Ripple having received conditional approvals, Circle and BitGo having received final approvals, and Kraken's parent company Payward, Zerohash, and Block also having submitted applications.

The official website of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission shows that "E Fund" has been listed as an unlicensed company, and two related websites are also listed. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission stated that "E Fund" falsely claims on the related websites that the digital asset private fund has been approved by the Securities and Futures Commission.

The cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase has obtained a Financial Services License (FSP) issued by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). This license allows it to arrange investment transactions and provide custody for tokenized securities. Coinbase describes this license as the regulatory foundation for its international tokenization hub and the first of its two major non-U.S. institutional businesses established in the UAE, the other being its derivatives business in Dubai.According to the scope of the license, the FSP covers the arrangement and custody of tokenized stocks fully backed by underlying shares. Holders of digital securities can gain economic exposure such as dividends, while voting rights and redemption rights are subject to the conditions outlined in each prospectus. Coinbase states that investors only need a crypto wallet to trade, and secondary transfers do not require a brokerage account or banking relationship, but redeeming profits for fiat currency still requires a bank or brokerage account.Brett Tejpaul, Co-President of Coinbase Institutional: Currently, there is no major financial center that has established a framework that simultaneously regards tokenized stocks as securities, blockchain-native tokens, and composable DeFi assets. Arvind Ramamurthy, Chief Market Development Officer of ADGM, stated that the Coinbase hub reflects the center's progressive, robust, and internationally aligned regulatory framework. The FSRA issued its first virtual asset rules in 2018, which include protective measures such as sanctions screening and the ability to freeze or seize assets at the wallet level. ADGM applies English common law, and the FSRA's authority differs from that of the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority; registered entities do not automatically obtain a passport in other Gulf Cooperation Council jurisdictions.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in federal court on Friday, accusing it of exceeding its statutory authority when issuing national trust bank charters to cryptocurrency companies. The ICBA stated that the OCC is implementing "broad new powers not authorized by the National Bank Act," allowing these companies to enter the U.S. banking system without being subject to the same level of regulatory oversight as community banks, putting small banks at a "serious competitive disadvantage."The ICBA is one of the largest banking advocacy organizations in the United States, primarily representing small institutions. Last month, the organization strongly opposed the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill, which failed to advance in the U.S. Senate, arguing that its stablecoin provisions did not protect community banks from direct competition for deposit accounts. ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey stated that Congress did not establish the national trust charter to provide a "backdoor" for cryptocurrency companies seeking to enter the banking system with the credibility of a federal bank charter, as these companies do not bear the same obligations regarding capital, liquidity, regulation, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance requirements. An OCC spokesperson responded to CoinDesk that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.Recently, the OCC has continued to issue trust charters to cryptocurrency companies, but these companies' business models differ from those of typical community banks and do not offer cash deposit accounts that require FDIC insurance. Approved institutions include cryptocurrency banks Protego and Erebor, as well as existing cryptocurrency firms like Coinbase, Circle, and Crypto.com.

According to Crypto Briefing, Orca's Chief Legal Officer Christopher Montagano stated at the Korea Blockchain Week that the innovation exemption released by the SEC on September 17 provides the conditions to verify whether DeFi blockchain tracks are more efficient than traditional infrastructure.The exemption offers a conditional relief period of 5 years, until September 17, 2031; under this framework, tokenized securities venues and specific liquidity providers can operate tokenized U.S. stock licensed trading without registering as exchanges or brokers.Montagano stated that the exemption is specifically designed for AMM but does not constitute a ruling on DeFi; relevant parties must still comply with sanction rules and obtain issuer consent to distinguish it from unlicensed DeFi. Orca has been involved in discussions with the SEC since 2025 and began trading tokenized stocks in November of the same year.

According to The Block citing the Financial Times, EU regulators are questioning Binance's use of legal exemptions to continue providing services to EU customers after failing to obtain a MiCA license.Binance stated that the company complies with applicable regulatory requirements in the jurisdictions where it operates and is working towards obtaining MiCA authorization.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom has announced that it will begin accepting authorization applications from cryptocurrency businesses under the new regulatory framework starting today. Businesses planning to continue operating in the UK must submit their applications by February 28, 2027, and the new system will take effect on October 25, 2027.At that time, cryptocurrency businesses operating in the UK will be subject to comprehensive regulation by the FCA for the first time, with relevant standards covering consumer protection, client asset custody, market integrity, and financial resilience. The FCA emphasizes that submitting an application does not guarantee automatic approval, and businesses that do not meet the standards will not be allowed to continue providing regulated cryptocurrency services in the UK.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission announced that the licensed virtual asset trading platform DFX Labs Company Limited reported "dfx[.]cn", "dfxcn[.]com", and other four websites as fraudulent websites. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has listed the relevant websites as suspicious virtual asset trading platforms.

According to an official announcement from Alpaca, its Southeast Asia headquarters, Alpaca Securities Pte. Ltd., has received in-principle approval for a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).Once the relevant conditions are met and the formal license is obtained, the company plans to offer brokerage and custody services in Singapore, targeting financial institutions and fintech companies in Southeast Asia. Alpaca emphasizes that in-principle approval does not equate to a formal license, and related services cannot be launched based on this approval at this time.

The cryptocurrency trading platform BTSE, under BTSE Exchange Pte Ltd (BTSE Bhutan), announced that it has received a financial services license from the Gelephu Financial Services Office (GFSO) of the special administrative region of Gelephu, Bhutan. The company received preliminary approval in April 2026, and this license confirms that it has met all the prerequisites.The license authorizes the operation of a virtual asset multi-lateral trading facility and the provision of institutional-level virtual asset custody services. The company will begin onboarding users in the coming weeks, with spot trading initially only available for BTC/USDT and ETH/USDT. More trading pairs and fiat currency exchanges will be rolled out in phases, and customer assets will be placed under licensed custody arrangements in accordance with regulatory requirements.