Legal & Regulation

Regulatory frameworks are reshaping where and how exchanges can operate — this section covers the ones most relevant to crypto users today.

European Union

CASP (MiCA) — The EU's licensing category for exchanges, custodians and brokers under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which has applied fully since December 2024. A CASP license granted by one EU member state's regulator is valid across the whole bloc — a mechanism known as passporting — and the transition period for firms already operating ended July 1, 2026, after which unlicensed platforms may not onboard new EU/EEA clients.

MSB (Money Services Business) — The US federal registration category most crypto exchanges and money transmitters fall under, administered by FinCEN and layered on top of separate state-by-state money transmitter licenses. Canada uses an equivalent MSB registration with FINTRAC. It sets AML/KYC obligations rather than acting as a single unified license.
CLARITY Act (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act) — A proposed US law that would split crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC and set clearer rules for when a digital asset counts as a security versus a commodity. It passed the House in July 2025 and cleared the Senate Banking Committee in May 2026, but remained un-enacted as of September 2026.

VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) — The category defined by the FATF, the intergovernmental body that sets global anti-money-laundering standards, for exchanges, custodians and other crypto businesses. Countries write their own licensing regimes around this label, making it the common term used across much of Asia, the UAE, the UK and offshore financial centers rather than a single license issued by one authority.

DASP (Digital Asset Service Provider) — France's pre-MiCA registration category for crypto businesses, administered by the AMF; registered firms were given a transition period to convert to a MiCA CASP license. El Salvador separately uses the same DASP name for its own digital asset licensing regime, unrelated to the French one.
BitLicense — A standalone virtual currency license issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), required for firms serving New York residents regardless of federal MSB registration. Introduced in 2015, it predates most other US crypto-specific licensing frameworks and is known for a stricter, slower approval process.