ESMA Updates MiCA Register, Four Greek Institutions First to Enter ESMA Crypto Register
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has updated the MiCA register, with BCash, Xenios Blockchain Group, Capital Wallet Greece, and Piraeus Bank becoming the first Greek crypto asset service providers listed, bringing the total number of registered service providers to 359.
During the same period, six institutions from Germany, France, and Slovenia were also added to the register. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) supervises the first three, while the Bank of Greece oversees Piraeus Bank's crypto-related banking operations. Domestic law 5193/2025 designates HCMC as the competent authority and requires Greek service providers to be established as joint-stock companies. The EU transition period closed on July 1, and those without CASP authorization are no longer allowed to operate with EU clients and must exit in an orderly manner.
BCash was approved on June 30, focusing on crypto ATMs and cash exchange. HCMC approved Xenios and Capital Wallet at its 1096th board meeting on July 22: Xenios was granted the ability to receive and transmit crypto asset instructions on behalf of clients; Capital Wallet received six services, including custody and management, crypto asset and fund exchange, crypto asset conversion, execution of client instructions, receipt and transmission of instructions, and transfers. Capital Wallet can cover 27 countries with a single Athens license under the passporting mechanism. Piraeus Bank, as a systemically important bank, enters the register, publicly engaging in euro stablecoin-related activities. Binance previously submitted an application in Greece but withdrew it on June 24; HCMC denied that officials communicated with the European Central Bank regarding this application and refuted claims of Lagarde's involvement.
Germany has about 100 CASPs, while France, the Netherlands, Malta, and Cyprus lead in numbers; Greece had been at zero for a long time. 173 foreign CASPs have entered the Greek market under the passporting mechanism. The register is the result of submissions from the competent authorities of member states to ESMA, with the online launch lagging behind domestic approvals by several weeks.
The buyers are local companies and banks that want to legally serve EU clients after the transition period ends, while the sellers are the licenses themselves. Funds are shifting from unlicensed operations to licensed entities and Athens entities that can passport. The beneficiaries are the four listed institutions and the legal certainty for their clients, while the pressured parties are brands still operating in Greece but not appearing on the ESMA register. The event driver is the update of the register, not a new round of financing.
Source: Public Information
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Greece is not a European crypto hub, yet after the transition period closed, it has sent four local entities into the ESMA register. HCMC made decisions on June 30 and July 22 to fill the zero authorization gap, waiting for ESMA to write their names into the EU master register. Piraeus Bank's entry indicates that licenses have expanded from ATM companies to commercial bank balance sheets. Binance's withdrawal of its application signals that major powers are reluctant to hand over systemically important exchanges to a regulator that has yet to oversee a single transaction. Law 5193/2025 locks the company form into joint-stock companies, effectively filtering shell licenses through corporate law.
The capital pathway is the passporting mechanism. A single CASP in Athens can cover 27 countries, costing less than obtaining one license each in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Capital Wallet's six services are sold as an EU access platform model; Xenios only received order transmission, focusing on B2B tokenization consulting; BCash maintains cash entry; banks engage with stablecoins and custody. Funds flow from clients' fiat and crypto assets into licensed custody and exchange accounts, with compliance costs embedded in domestic prudential regulation. The 173 foreign entities have already entered under the passporting mechanism, while the four local entities are latecomers filling the gap, competing for the trust of "Greek clients willing to place their money under local licenses," not for the entire EU traffic.
Analogies can be drawn with Malta, Cyprus, and Lithuania, which rushed to register under the VASP list before MiCA, and Germany's BaFin, which incorporated banks and crypto custody together. Greece arrived late, avoiding the peak of transition period arbitrage but also missing out on anchor clients like Binance. The industry's position is at the closing stage of the EU's transition from national VASP lists to a single CASP register: after July 1, without a register, there are no EU clients. The entry of banks into the register pushes crypto services from the fintech sandbox into commercial bank balance sheets.
Structural judgments belong to regulatory changes. The mechanism is that MiCA has changed the operating rights from "national registration is sufficient" to "authorization from any member state plus public listing in the ESMA register." The register is a passport, and the competent authority is the gatekeeper. The Bank of Greece supervises banks, while HCMC oversees the rest, separating stablecoins and retail exchanges. Pricing power shifts from gray market exchanges to legal entities that can appear on esma.europa.eu. Those who enter the register first can collect passport premiums; those who only have national approvals but are not in the master register remain in a state of incomplete customer due diligence.
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