In its recent announcement, the second largest crypto exchange per market capitalization, Coinbase, received the approval of a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from French regulators.
The December 21 report demonstrated that the approval of the Coinbase VASP license allows the firm to expand its market presence in Europe. Report indicate that Coinbase joined the strings of crypto companies seeking to expand its operation in crypto friendly states in the European region.
Coinbase Secures VASP License in France
A few months ago, leading crypto exchanges such as eToro, ARK Invest and Galaxy Digital confirmed plans to expand to Europe. According to the report, the approval of the Coinbase license allows the crypto exchange to operate as a regulated entity in France.
In a December 21 statement, the Coinbase team stated that the approval of the VASP license allows the exchange to offer a wide variety of crypto products, including custodial services for cryptos, and support the buying and selling of digital assets as a legal tender.
In the report, the Coinbase team confirmed that the greenlighting of the VASP license mandates the exchange to operate the digital assets trading platform in a compliant manner. The crypto exchange was pleased to state that the approval of the license allows French investors to trade digital assets against other assets.
The Coinbase license was reportedly approved when French President Emmanuel Macron sought to establish a global tech hub in the region. The French authority has redirected its focus on artificial intelligence and cloud computing technologies for the past few months.
Suitability of the French Crypto Sector
With the ongoing development in the tech sector, the French regulators allocated $36.5 billion towards the France 2030 plan, which focuses on positioning the country as the leading Web3 centre in Europe.
Interestingly, the French government has regularly supported crypto and tech firms in the region to redefining the financial sector. Beyond this, the regulators have worked on creating a friendly environment to attract the best-performing crypto firms, such as Binance, Crypto.com and Ledger, to France.
The expansion of high-profile crypto firms has challenged other companies to register for licenses with the relevant authorities in France. A few weeks ago, the second largest stablecoin issuer by market capitalization, Circle, obtained the VASP license approval from the French regulator.
The approval of the Circle VASP license demonstrated that the French seek to become the next crypto hub in Europe. Besides the crypto regulations adopted in France, recent studies illustrated that the country has a growing crypto-savvy population.
According to Toluna, approximately 10% of the French young adults own a substantial amount of crypto assets while 24% of the investors in France engage in the buying and selling of crypto assets.
Coinbase Global Expansion
The approval of the Coinbase license concurs with decisive actions taken by industry leaders in the European market to leverage emerging technologies, including crypto and blockchain technologies, to improve the traditional payment system.
On the other hand, European regulators have intensified their regulatory action to uphold consumer protection in the digital space. The report indicates that crypto firms are flocking to Europe before implementing the market for crypto assets (MiCA) regulation, which seeks to establish a solid regulatory framework for digital assets.
The European regulators envisage that the MiCA rules will be effective next year, allowing the licensed VASPs to operate in different countries within the Euro zone. The remarkable efforts made by European regulators to provide comprehensive regulations have positioned Europe as a crypto-friendly region.
Unlike in the United States, where the regulations for crypto assets remain unclear, leading crypto firms such as Binance are silently exiting the unfavourable US market.
The exodus of crypto firms in the US emanates from the regulatory action by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against non-compliant exchanges.
In an earlier report, the SEC accused Coinbase and its top rival, Binance, of violating the securities law. The SEC claimed that the two crypto exchanges offered tokens listed as securities without registering with the authority.
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