A Cypriote branch of the UK-based fintech bank Revolut received its first approval to provide crypto asset services, amongst which include investing in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other tokens with more than 30 currencies.
The services are available to more than 20 million bank clients across the European Economic Area and the UK. The authorization was granted by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.
Revolut received the approval before the introduction of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets regulation (MiCA), which is aimed at protecting the crypto assets of customers. It would enable crypto services providers to offer their services across the EU with authorization from just one national authority.
According to a report by AltFi, a spokesman for Revolut highlighted that Cyprus was chosen for having advantages such as a “sophisticated and robust regulatory regime, as well as the strength of the existing crypto industry”.
Revolut’s Twitter account actively promotes educational crypto courses that are meant to add some insights into crypto trading for their clients. The fintech encourages crypto customers to learn the basics of crypto by offering free tokens in exchange for completing the courses.
It’s not the first crypto company in Cyprus: the island is home to several other large international businesses regulated in the same way such as Crypto.com (a Singapore exchange), Bitpanda (broker), and eToro (an Israeli investment company). However, it is the first European bank to get a license for conducting such operations.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, Binance, also managed to secure registration in France, Italy, and Spain over the past month. Revolut was also recently granted a crypto authorization in Spain by the Spanish Central Bank and a crypto license in Singapore by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. It seems like the expansion of crypto authorizations is gaining momentum, let’s hang back and see how rapid it will be!
