Kraken, the United States–based Cryptocurrency exchange has received authorization to act as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) from the Central Bank of Ireland. Payward Europe Solutions which is an Irish subsidiary of Kraken and is registered in Dublin received this authorization on April 18, 2023.
This VASP authorization came to Kraken when European Union is scheduled to conduct its final vote on the most awaited Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. This legislation is expected to pass post-preliminary voting. If it gets enforced then it will require companies operating as CASP, a Crypto Asset Service Provider in the EU to register with any one of the Union’s 27 authorized regulators.
The Irish Subsidiary of Kraken has attained such qualification to become the third cryptocurrency outlet to be registered. The Gemini and Coinbase received their VASP authorization in July and December 2022 respectively.
Initially, the Kraken Cryptocurrency exchange had to face several challenges in the USA. It was pushed to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission due to its alleged improprieties relating to staking services. As a result, the cryptocurrency exchange had to pay $30 Million as fines and agreed to cease staking services as an offering for US clients.
However, fast forward on April 18, and Kraken seemed to have battled all those challenges to meet the MiCA compliances, ahead of the EU vote on MiCA on April 19. If the MiCA gets passed in the legislation, its full implementation is expected to be around Q3 2023 which is approximately an 18-month transition period.
