Coinbase Gains Licence to Operate as Virtual Asset Services Provider in France

US-based crypto exchange Coinbase has successfully acquired a licence to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP) in France. This also means that Coinbase is now a registered entity with Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), the French financial markets authority. While Binance has amassed approval internationally outside the US, Coinbase appears to be following the same trajectory amid increasing scrutiny from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The third-largest crypto firm by trading volume globally, Coinbase can now offer retail, institutional, and ecosystem products and service options in France.

Furthermore, this fresh registration also opens doors for Coinbase to extend custody service for digital assets along with facilitating their buying and selling deals as well, said the exchange in a blog post.

“We’re focused on bringing the benefits of crypto to the world. Achieving VASP status in France allows us to continue to grow globally in the best possible way, onboarding the next 1 billion people into crypto while ensuring consumers’ assets are secure and that compliance is prioritised. France has a thriving Web3 ecosystem,” said Daniel Seifert, Vice President and Regional Managing Director of EMEA at Coinbase.

Earlier in May this year, France invited crypto players looking to set up their businesses outside of the US. At the time, this invitation had come just a day after the European Union (EU) gave its final approval to MiCA — a comprehensive set of regulations that have been curated to uniformly govern the digital assets sector in all of the EU regions.

Coinbase has especially mentioned that the clarity that the MiCA laws bring to the crypto sector in the EU has been of great help in growing its business there.

“The recent adoption of MiCA by European Union policymakers represents a pivotal moment for cryptocurrencies in the region. The regulatory clarity MiCA provides to the industry is hugely welcome,” the Coinbase blog noted.