Concepts Sources Graph Archive Round Robin →

Crypto-asset service provider (CASP)

Concept·1 cited sources·updated 2026-04-27

Entities providing services on crypto-assets — custody, exchange, transfer, execution, advice, portfolio management, placement — to clients in the EU. One of the four regulatory categories under MiCA compliance (Title V).

What it means

CASPs (the regulatory acronym is widely used) are MiCA Title V's service-provider category: any entity offering one or more of the named crypto-asset services in or to the EU market needs CASP authorisation under Title V. Unlike the issuer-centric Titles III (ART) and IV (EMT), Title V regulates the service layer — the vendors that move, hold, exchange, execute on, or advise about crypto-assets without necessarily issuing them.

For institutional buyers, the CASP authorisation is the relevant license check for custodians, exchanges, on/off-ramps, transfer-rail operators, and execution venues that target EU clients.

How it shows up in sources

  • ESMA — Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) hub — ESMA's hub names CASPs as Title V coverage; the interim MiCA register lists "authorised crypto-asset service providers" as a separate entity class. Article 143's transitional provisions explicitly cover CASPs that were operating under national law before 30 December 2024.

Mechanism / how it works

Title V CASP services typically cover (commonly cited categories from MiCA implementation literature; full enumeration in the regulation text):

  • Custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients.
  • Operation of trading platforms for crypto-assets.
  • Exchange of crypto-assets for funds or for other crypto-assets.
  • Execution of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients.
  • Placement of crypto-assets.
  • Reception and transmission of orders for crypto-assets.
  • Providing advice on crypto-assets.
  • Portfolio management on crypto-assets.
  • Transfer services for crypto-assets.

CASP authorisation requirements include:

  • Capital requirements (varying by service category).
  • Governance and prudential standards.
  • Conduct-of-business rules (suitability, best execution, conflicts of interest).
  • Operational resilience and IT security.
  • Filing white papers when applicable (e.g. when also acting as issuer).

Article 143(3) transitional provision: entities operating under national crypto-asset-services licenses before 30 December 2024 may continue until 1 July 2026 or until they receive a MiCA authorisation decision. Article 143(6) simplified-authorisation track: for entities authorised under national law on 30 December 2024.

For the wiki's public_status: frontmatter discipline, a CASP-relevant value would be ["MiCA-registered (CASP)"] for an authorised provider, or ["MiCA-transitional (CASP)"] for one operating under Article 143 during the transitional window.

Related concepts

  • MiCA compliance — parent regulatory frame.
  • Asset-referenced token (ART) — sister Title III category (issuers, not service providers).
  • E-money token (EMT) — sister Title IV category (issuers, not service providers).
  • Qualified custodian — overlaps with Title V's custody-and-administration service category, though qualified-custodian is a US-rooted concept (NYDFS / SEC / OCC) rather than an EU one. Worth tracking how the regimes converge or diverge for global custodians.
  • Citation discipline — CASPs operating in the EU produce supervisory reports that are themselves citation-grade public sources for vendor diligence.

Related vendors / sectors

  • Custody — custody is a Title V service.
  • Regulatory and compliance — compliance vendors map their tooling to CASP supervisory requirements (transaction monitoring, conduct-of-business reporting).
  • Payment and settlement — transfer-of-crypto-assets and exchange-for-funds are Title V services.
  • Stablecoin issuers — issuers that also operate exchange or transfer services need both Title-III/IV authorisation and Title V CASP authorisation.

Open questions

  • The Article 143 transitional period creates a moving-target authorisation status for many CASPs through July 2026. The wiki's public_status: frontmatter discipline needs a way to mark this temporally — sub-state value or a mica_transitional_until: 2026-07-01 field. Tentative direction: sub-state value.
  • The boundary between "providing crypto-asset services" (CASP, Title V) and "operating a financial-instruments trading venue" (MiFID II) hinges on whether the underlying crypto-asset qualifies as a financial instrument. ESMA publishes a separate guideline on this — future ingest if a wiki vendor sits at the boundary.

Sources cited