Baltics and Nordics in the MiCA CASP Register — Status as of 7 May 2026

Summary

As of 7 May 2026, the ESMA Interim MiCA Register contains 19 fully authorised CASPs in the Baltics and Nordics — and exactly 11 of them were missing from the Norriwire database. After this update, Norriwire's seed contains 31 regional entries (20 existing + 11 newly added). The most striking finding — Lithuania at 6 CASPs (against the legacy of 360 VASPs), Denmark growing fast with 4 CASPs, Estonia still at just 1, while Norway and Iceland have 0 in the official ESMA register.

Context: VASP → CASP conversion is dramatically shrinking the count

To make sense of the small CASP register numbers, you need to remember the legacy of the VASP regime. VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) was a national AML registry that operated before MiCA — each country with its own standards. CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) is the new EU-wide licence with substantially higher requirements: capital minimums, corporate governance, client fund segregation, MiFID-grade risk management, and EU passporting.

During the transition period (which in most EU countries ends on 1 July 2026 or has already ended) VASP licences continue to operate, but new applications are accepted only as CASPs. The practical result — most of the older VASPs do not file new applications, and licence counts drop by an order of magnitude. Lithuania is the starkest example: ~850 VASPs at end of 2022, 324 at end of 2024, and the Bank of Lithuania received only 102 MiCA applications in 2025 — fewer than 10% of the 2024 register.

By country — what is now in the Norriwire database

Latvia (2 CASPs, full match with ESMA)

Both current LV CASPs are already in the Norriwire seed:

• BlockBen (BlockBen SIA) — Latvia's first MiCA CASP, 2025-12-03. B2B focus with token issuance services; full 30-country EEA passport.
• Nexdesk (Nexdesk SIA) — second LV CASP, 2025-12-10. B2B OTC desk integrated with Nexpay IBAN; full 30-country EEA passport.

Latvijas Banka announcements indicate that by end of January 2026 there were 5 additional MiCA applications filed and 12 companies in pre-licensing consultations. So by 1 July the LV CASP count could grow to 4–5.

Lithuania (6 CASPs, +5 added)

Existing: Robinhood Europe (UAB, 2025-05-29) — Lithuania's FIRST CASP licence, a NASDAQ:HOOD subsidiary.

Newly added from the ESMA register:

• Coingate (UAB Decentralized) — 2025-12-16. Long-running crypto payment gateway, full EU passport, 4 service categories (custody + both exchanges + transfer).
• Simplex (Nuvei Liquidity UAB) — 2025-12-16. Nuvei (TSX:NVEI) subsidiary; on-ramp infrastructure; full EU passport.
• Newrails (Newrails, UAB) — 2025-11-14. Operates under Article 60(4) tied to its own AMBR EURO (EURW) e-money token. Custody + transfer across the full EEA.
• Myriad Capital (UAB Micar assets) — 2026-02-26. Institutional custody/brokerage in Vilnius; 6 service categories, no passporting.
• BLUE EMI (UAB BLUE EMI LT) — 2025-05-13. Article 60(4) tied to its own BLUEUR e-money token; custody only.

Notable — two of Lithuania's six licences (Newrails and BLUE EMI) are Article 60(4) entries, i.e. tied only to self-issued EMTs rather than general client-facing services. That's a niche specific to Lithuania's approach.

Estonia (1 CASP in ESMA, new)

Norriwire's seed had LHV and Striga, but neither is in the ESMA Interim register — both remain in pre-MiCA status or are not direct CASP licence holders.

Newly added:

• Lightyear (Lightyear Europe AS) — 2025-11-17. Tallinn-based neobroker (Wise alumni founders). Custody + order execution + reception/transmission. Full 30-country EEA passport. App available in 25+ countries.

This is a pivotal moment for Estonia — the VASP regime ends 2026-07-01 with no automatic conversion, meaning all 43 VASPs that wish to operate beyond that date must apply from scratch.

Finland (5 CASPs, +2 added)

Existing in ESMA: Coinmotion, NorthCrypto, Kvarn X.

Newly added:

• Tesseract (Tesseract Investment Oy) — 2025-09-12. Helsinki-based institutional digital-asset manager. 5 service categories including advice and portfolio management; full EU passport.
• Bittimaatti (Bittimaatti Oy) — 2025-09-12. Finnish crypto-ATM network in Kerava. Fiat→crypto exchange only, no passport. A rare "physical retail" niche in the EU CASP landscape.

Bittiraha and Holvi remain in the Norriwire seed — neither is separately listed in ESMA. Bittiraha is part of the Coinmotion holding; Holvi is an EMI, not a CASP.

Sweden (1 CASP, match)

• Safello (Safello AB) — 2025-10-13. The first and only SE CASP licence in the ESMA register. Listed company (Nasdaq First North Growth Market) with BankID + Trustly + Apple Pay integration.

Goobit, Klarna, Trijo remain in the Norriwire seed — none are in the ESMA Interim CASP register. Goobit and Trijo may still be transitioning; Klarna is a bank, not a CASP.

Norway (0 ESMA, 4 transitioning)

Norway is using the maximum MiCA Article 143(3) transitional window through 2026-06-30, so no NO CASPs appear in the ESMA Interim register yet. The Norriwire seed retains AK Jensen Norway (which officially became Norway's first CASP on 2026-02-02 per Finanstilsynet, but has not yet appeared in the ESMA Interim CSV), Firi, NBX, and Bitcoins Norge as pre-MiCA applicants.

Denmark (4 CASPs, +3 added)

Existing ESMA-aligned: Lunar Block (Lunar Block A/S, 2025-09-15) — Denmark's first CASP. Stored in the Norriwire seed as lunar-dk.

Newly added:

• Penning (Penning Financial Services ApS) — 2026-01-15. Copenhagen-based multi-service CASP. 7 of 9 MiCA service categories, including portfolio management; full 29-country passport (excluding DK).
• GCEX (GC Exchange A/S) — 2025-12-12. Institutional DMA brokerage; limited passport (NL only).
• Northstake (Northstake ApS) — 2026-04-07. Regulated staking + custody provider; full 30-country EEA passport.

Coinify remains in the seed as pre-MiCA transitioning — not yet in the ESMA Interim register.

Iceland (0)

No CASPs at all. As an EFTA/EEA member, MiCA applies, but the Icelandic regulator Fjármálaeftirlit has not yet publicly authorised any provider.

Confidence and sources — why this cycle is more reliable

The previous CASP audit findings (2026-05-04) showed that the Norriwire database contained entries based on media announcements and PR — but not direct regulator registers. This cycle is HIGH confidence by definition, because each new entry:

• Is verified against the ESMA Interim MiCA Register CSV (downloaded 2026-05-07).
• Includes a LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) — a globally unique code.
• Carries the authorisation date, service categories (per MiCA Article 75 a–j), and passport countries sourced directly from ESMA data.
• Is marked verification.confidence: "HIGH" with verification.source pointing at the ESMA CSV URL.

All 11 new CASPs ship with status="draft" so a manual review precedes public visibility — consistent with the audit's conservative policy.

What to expect through 1 July 2026

• Latvia: 5 additional applications in the queue → realistically 4–7 LV CASPs by summer.
• Lithuania: fewer than 10% of the 324 VASPs convert — final tally likely 15–25.
• Estonia: 43 VASPs lose status with no automatic conversion; possibly 5–10 CASPs by year-end.
• Norway: end of the transitional period will bring a large CASP filing wave in June.
• Finland and Sweden: stable landscape, modest annual growth.

The Norriwire database will be refreshed against each weekly ESMA Interim register CSV pulse, and the next significant snapshot is planned for after the 2026-07-01 deadline once the landscape settles.

Sources

• ESMA — Interim MiCA Register CSV (CASPS.csv)
• ESMA — Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)
• Latvijas Banka — Crypto-asset service providers
• Bank of Lithuania — Authorisation of crypto-asset service providers
• Finantsinspektsioon — The operating license in markets of crypto assets
• Finanssivalvonta — Crypto-asset activities