This article explores the transition to the EU’s new MiCA regulation in Belgium, where legislative delays are proving a blocker to accessing new CASP licenses. As part of our ongoing expert series on global crypto legal regimes, we analyze and evaluate different regulatory approaches for digital assets.
Crypto regulation legacy in Belgium
In the past, there have been no specific laws governing crypto-assets in Belgium. In 2017, Belgian law extended the requirements of the EU’s Fifth Anti-money Laundering Directive to cover crypto assets.
Further, in 2022, a Royal Decree expanded supervision requirements to cryptocurrency exchange and custodian services. As a result, any CASPs with a fixed establishment in Belgium were required to register with the Belgian financial regulator, the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA.)
However, according to the FSMA website, although the regime was in place, no provider had registered as a CASP in Belgium. This is likely due to the fact that registration requirements are limited only to CASPs established in Belgium. EU operators established in another member state were excluded from the requirement while still being permitted to target the Belgian market. As a result, the Belgian market is serviced entirely by non-Belgian EU companies.
What MiCA Means for Crypto Regulation in Belgium – Key Timelines & Requirements
As an Act issued by the EU Parliament, MiCA automatically applies in domestic law, with the articles covering CASPs enforceable as of 30th December 2024. One of the requirements of MiCA is that each country appoints a competent domestic authority for the supervision of CASPs, which includes the remit of CASP license issuance.
As of January 2025, the Belgian legislator has not yet passed any law that empowers the FSMA or any other entity to act as a supervisor or license issuer under MiCA. Therefore, the transition to MiCA in Belgium appears to be in stasis until the necessary legislation is passed.
Even so, given the requirements of MiCA are relatively clear-cut and applicable across the bloc, Belgian CASPs can still prepare, and those with entities elsewhere in the EU can potentially leverage that position to serve the Belgian markets with a MiCA license from another member state.
Notification procedure
Article 60 of MiCA provides an exemption to the licensing requirements that are generally applicable to CASPs. Under Article 60, regulated credit institutions, securities depositories, investment firms, and others already licensed or regulated under established EU financial regulations do not need to obtain a CASP license from their domestic regulator. Instead, they are obliged to follow a simplified notification procedure that extends their existing license to digital asset operations.
The notification requirements under Article 60 stipulate that qualifying entities must notify the regulator at least 40 days in advance of the launch of their CASP operations.
In the absence of any appointed regulator, it’s currently not possible for regulated Belgian banks to issue a notification.
CASPs in Belgium: Navigating Licensing and the Transition to MiCA Compliance
The general licensing requirements apply to all CASPs that don’t qualify for an Article 60 exemption. It’s currently impossible to lodge a formal application until the FSMA is formally appointed. However, in the absence of any specific application form, CASPs may prepare a licensing submission based on the generic data collection templates provided by ESMA in its Final Report on Draft Technical Standards for the implementation of MiCA, in readiness for when the regulator is appointed.
Since there were no CASPs registered with the FSMA prior to MiCA becoming effective on 30th December 2024, there are no entities specifically in the scope of the Belgian transition.
However, in recognition of the lack of formal oversight in Belgium, the FSMA has clarified that CASPs governed by another EU member state that had previously provided services in Belgium before 30th December 2024 may continue to do so until the latest 1st July 2026.
Digital asset market outlook
While regulatory challenges are currently a significant impediment to progress, the long-term outlook for the Belgian markets is still favorable. There is an established audience for digital assets serviced by non-domestic providers such as Coinbase and Bitvavo (the latter of which is headquartered in the neighboring Netherlands). According to Statista, crypto has a penetration rate of over 31 percent in Belgium as of 2024, with six percent of the population invested in cryptocurrencies.
While this is currently somewhat lower than neighboring countries such as France or the Netherlands, Belgians show a similar investment appetite as their neighbors for traditional assets, indicating a potential growth opportunity for financial firms now that the market is regulated.
Launching a MiCA-compliant CASP offering with Wyden
Wyden Infinity covers the entire end-to-end trade lifecycle of digital assets across all pre-trade, trade and post-trade use cases. It enables sell-side firms to build and maintain retail and institutional client offerings as well as internal prop-trading needs via a single platform, making Wyden Infinity the ideal choice for banks and brokers when building and scaling their fully MiCA-compliant digital asset businesses.
A key advantage of the Wyden platform is that it offers true best execution through market-wide connectivity to over 55 trading venues and a smart order routing system that carries out price comparisons and order splitting to achieve the optimal execution terms. Transparency is built into the system via real-time pre- and post-trade data, and Wyden’s standalone accounting system offers a fully auditable transaction trail.
Integration with custody partners, such as Copper, Metaco, and Fireblocks, also means Wyden maintains an auditable record of transaction flows between custody and trading with automated liquidity management solutions that ensure an uninterrupted trading experience. Core banking integrations ensure smooth reconciliation and support the assimilation of a new digital asset offering into established workflows.
Contact us today for an initial discussion about implementing a MiCA-compliant digital asset offering in your organization.
Please note that the above article does not constitute legal advice.