Another major crypto player chooses Luxembourg. 🧡
Ripple has just received an agreement in principle from the CSSF for its CASP licence under MiCA.
Once formally approved, Ripple will be able to deploy its crypto-asset and stablecoin infrastructure across the entire European Economic Area directly from Luxembourg.
Let's pause for a second and appreciate what this means.
Over the last few years, Luxembourg has quietly become one of Europe's most attractive jurisdictions for digital assets.
Ripple. Coinbase. Bitstamp. Banking Circle. Zodia. And many others.
This doesn't happen by accident.
It happens because Luxembourg has spent decades building expertise in financial services, regulation and international business. And today, that expertise is increasingly being applied to blockchain and digital assets.
For Ripple, this is a strategic milestone.
For Luxembourg, it's another signal that the country is becoming a serious gateway between traditional finance and digital finance.
What's particularly interesting is that Ripple is talking about payments, settlement, collateral management, tokenised assets and digital infrastructure, not speculation. In other words: real-world financial services. The conversation has evolved.
We're no longer discussing whether blockchain can be useful.
We're discussing who will build the infrastructure layer of tomorrow's financial system. And that's a very different conversation.
That said... A healthy ecosystem needs more than licences.
It needs users. It needs builders. It needs innovation. And it needs competition.
This is where Europe faces an interesting challenge.
While Ripple is expanding, Europe has already lost access to some of the industry's largest players and products.
Tether chose not to pursue MiCA compliance.
Questions remain around the future positioning of other major global platforms.
And ultimately, it is European users who may find themselves with fewer options than the rest of the world.
Of course, consumer protection matters.
Of course, regulation matters.
But so does competitiveness.
And perhaps the real test of MiCA won't be how many licences are granted.
It will be whether Europe manages to attract innovation without pushing away usefulness.
Because protecting users is important.
But making sure they still have access to the best products and services might be just as important.
Congratulations to Ripple and to Luxembourg on another important milestone. 🧡
The race to build Europe's digital financial infrastructure continues.
