BitGo Secures EU Regulatory Green Light—Institutional Crypto Just Got Real
Europe’s crypto playing field just shifted. BitGo—the institutional custody heavyweight—locked down EU-wide approval under MiCA regulations, clearing the path for banks and hedge funds to dive in without regulatory side-eye.
Why it matters: After years of ’wild west’ stigma, this stamps crypto’s legitimacy for traditional finance. Even the skeptics can’t ignore a trillion-dollar market anymore.
The fine print: While compliance wins cheers in boardrooms, crypto natives whisper about creeping bureaucracy. Because nothing says ’decentralization’ like 27 governments rubber-stamping your ledger.
What is the MiCA framework?
The Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation is the European Union’s first comprehensive legal framework for crypto assets.
Passed by the European Parliament in April 2023, MiCA aims to harmonize rules across EU member states, covering stablecoins, exchanges, and custodial services. It requires crypto firms to register with national regulators and meet consumer protection, transparency, and capital requirements.
Stablecoin issuers, meanwhile, face strict oversight, including reserve mandates. MiCA also targets market abuse and insider trading in crypto markets.
BitGo’s European regulatory win contrasts with its experience in the United States, where the firm faced issues with its plans to become a qualified custody solution in New York in 2020, amid friction with the Securities and Exchange Commission, then led by Gary Gensler.
It later received approval and reached $1.75 billion in valuation by 2023.
In March this year, the U.S. Treasury met with BitGo and other Bitcoin custodians in the U.S., convening on a panel called "Safeguarding America’s Bitcoin."
Earlier in April, BitGo was among the listed panel for the SEC’s roundtable on crypto custody.
Decrypt reached out to BitGo for comments on the differences in regulatory frameworks between the U.S. and the E.U.
