CaixaBank has obtained a CASP licence under the EU's MiCA regulation, enabling it to offer crypto custody and trading services.
The licence permits the bank to offer regulated crypto-asset services to its customers, with a formal rollout expected in the coming months. The authorisation covers a range of services, including custody of crypto-assets, reception, transmission, and execution of buy and sell orders, as well as crypto-asset transfers. The bank has indicated that these services will be made available through its existing digital infrastructure under full regulatory compliance.
Expanding into regulated digital assets
MiCA, which entered into force across the EU, establishes a harmonised regulatory framework for crypto-asset activity and introduces stronger investor protections. However, the regulation itself acknowledges that investment in crypto-assets carries inherent risks, including high asset volatility, the absence of investor compensation schemes, and technology-related risks.
CaixaBank's CASP licence builds on earlier steps into digital asset exposure. Through its digital banking platform and the imagin brand, the bank has already offered customers access to exchange-traded products (ETPs) tracking the performance of bitcoin since 2024.
In addition, the MiCA authorisation positions CaixaBank within a growing group of EU-regulated institutions offering direct crypto-asset services, as the regulation accelerates the formalisation of the sector across member states.
Broader digital assets and payments context
Beyond crypto-asset services, CaixaBank is active in several adjacent areas of digital finance. The bank participates in Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks working to develop a EUR-linked stablecoin as a blockchain-based payment instrument for the European financial ecosystem. CaixaBank is also collaborating with the European Central Bank (ECB) on the development of the digital euro, having co-developed a prototype peer-to-peer payment wallet using the digital euro as part of the ECB's initiative. In payments more broadly, the bank operates as a payments provider in the Iberian market through its subsidiary CaixaBank Payments & Consumer.
