Six Spanish banks authorized by MiCA, traditional finance accelerates embrace of crypto assets

According to market news, Spain's CaixaBank has obtained authorization as a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) under the EU MiCA regulation, becoming the sixth licensed bank in the country to offer customers services for the custody, buying, and transferring of crypto assets.

The six authorized institutions in order are BBVA, Openbank (under the Santander Group), Cecabank, Renta 4 Banco, Kutxabank, and CaixaBank. Among them, BBVA was the first to be approved in 2025 and officially launched Bitcoin and Ethereum buying and custody services in July of the same year. The MiCA authorization serves as a "regulatory passport" across the EU, allowing licensed institutions to operate legally without having to apply country by country. The transition period in Spain will end on June 30, 2026, at which point unauthorized institutions will not be allowed to provide crypto asset services.