One of the world’s renowned crypto exchanges, Coinbase has gotten approval to operate as a virtual service provider in France.
The crypto platform announced that with this registration, the exchange could continue its plans of expanding over Europe.
It added that the French market was an important one and they were committed to cooperating with reputable regulators in various jurisdictions to keep the financial system updated.
The approval
On Thursday, the crypto exchange announced that French regulatory authorities had granted it the approval to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP).
The company announced social media platform X and stated that the approval was a major milestone because it was another chapter in its strategy to expand.
Last year in February, Coinbase announced its strategy ‘go broad and go deep’ that was aimed at global expansion of its operations.
At the time, the company had detailed that the first half of the strategy was about introducing foundational products that would serve as a gateway to crypto and Web3 in all countries.
As for the second part of the strategy, it was aimed at introducing public-facing products and localized infrastructure that would comprise a full suite of services.
A milestone
The Nasdaq-listed firm said that the approval from the French regulatory body was a significant milestone for the company’s international expansion goals.
It added that the approval from the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers) would allow Coinbase to provide its services in France and it would be able to continue with its expansion plans in Europe.
With the VASP license, Coinbase would now have the freedom to offer custody of digital assets, trading of digital assets against other digital assets, and purchase and sale of digital assets in legal tender.
It would be able to facilitate both institutional and retail traders on its platform. According to a recent survey, 10% of adults in France already own cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, the survey results also showed that 24% of French adults are planning to purchase, trade, and sell cryptocurrencies in the next 12 months.
Additional details
According to Coinbase, this makes it evident that demand is on the rise and added that it made complete sense.
This is because 60% of adults in France believe that powerful interests are unfairly favored by the global financial system.
The crypto exchange emphasized that the French market was important for the company because they wanted to update the financial system by partnering with regulators and the same applies to France.
Coinbase further said that it had demonstrated its dedication to the European market by opting to establish its MiCA entity in Ireland.
The exchange said that MiCA offered regulatory clarity to the industry, which is welcome, and it also shows that the region is willing to embrace the potential of emerging technologies.
It added that policymakers of the European Union had recently adopted MiCA and this represented a huge moment for the crypto market in the region.