Firi wins Norway's CASP licence - 05.06.2026

On Friday, 5 June 2026, the main news in the Baltic and Nordic crypto market came from Oslo. The Norwegian Finanstilsynet granted Firi AS a full MiCA crypto-asset service provider (CASP) licence under Article 63 of the regulation, making Firi the first pure crypto exchange in Norway to receive authorisation covering trading platform operation, exchange and custody services in full. The decision had been anticipated all week and marks a significant turning point in the consolidation of the Nordic crypto market less than a month before the end of the MiCA transition period. There are 25 days left until the 1 July deadline. On the same day, Latvijas Banka also announced that it had authorised the investment brokerage firm AS TWINO Investments to provide crypto-asset services under MiCA - a notable step in the Baltic market's licensing. Market context: Bitcoin traded near USD 74,800 in Friday's session, and the overall crypto market remained in a moderate spring consolidation mode ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting on 17-18 June.

Firi receives Norway's CASP licence - the first pure crypto exchange

Firi AS became the first pure crypto exchange in Norway to hold a full MiCA CASP licence on Friday. Finanstilsynet confirmed that the authorisation was issued under Article 63 of the MiCA regulation and covers the full range of services - operating a trading platform, exchanging crypto-assets for funds and other crypto-assets, and the custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients. Firi currently serves more than 400,000 verified customers in Norway and is the largest crypto exchange in the Nordics by registered user count.

Firi's management had previously stated that the company deliberately concentrated all its regulatory resources on the Norwegian licensing round rather than submitting applications in several jurisdictions in parallel. That strategy paid off on Friday. With the licence in hand, Firi can use the MiCA passporting mechanism to expand throughout the European Economic Area by submitting a cross-border services notification to its home regulator. The company has previously identified Sweden as its first expansion market, where it aims to become market leader, and the technical preparation of a multilingual Swedish-language interface has already been completed.

Firi's licence joins Norway's growing list of authorised operators. Before it, CASP authorisations in Norway had already been granted to AK Jensen Norway AS, the country's first CASP firm, and to TÝR Markets AS, which received its licence on 18 May. Market participants view the Firi licence as a signal that the Norwegian regulator's review process has matured and that several more decisions could follow in the coming weeks ahead of the 1 July deadline.

Norway - Bare Bitcoin, Sparebank 1 and the NBX capital raise

Across the rest of the Norwegian market, Friday passed in the shadow of the Firi news, but other operators continued their preparations as well. Bare Bitcoin continued its communication about a strategic partnership with the Sparebank 1 group. The company confirmed that the technical preparation of the integration is on schedule and that the first phase, with bitcoin buying and selling functions, will be activated immediately after Bare Bitcoin receives its MiCA CASP licence, which is expected in the first week of July. The Sparebank 1 group serves around 690,000 private customers in Norway, which could significantly broaden Bare Bitcoin's reach in the retail customer segment.

TÝR Markets AS continued its expansion in Sweden and Denmark via the passporting mechanism on Friday, and the company maintains a steady flow of new customer registrations after launching operations in the region three weeks ago. NBX, which remains listed on the Oslo exchange, continued preparing for its 12 June shareholders' meeting, at which a planned capital raise of NOK 180 million will be put to a vote. The issue is intended to fund expansion and cover MiCA compliance costs, and is part of the company's broader strategy to strengthen its position in the regulated Nordic crypto market.

Estonia - the midpoint of the Zondacrypto remediation deadline

In Estonia, the assessment of the compliance remediation situation of Zondacrypto's operator BB Trade Estonia OÜ continued on Friday. Friday marks day 18 of the 30-day deadline, which ends on 17 June. Finantsinspektsioon previously confirmed that the regulator has received the operator's first formal interim report on the implementation of the remediation plan, and the assessment continues. According to the regulator's statement, the final decision on the future status of BB Trade Estonia's operating licence will be announced within a week after the 17 June deadline.

The Zondacrypto platform continues normal operation in those service categories not covered by the partial suspension, but among regional customers the situation continues to affect market perception. A moderate increase in fund transfers to fully MiCA-licensed alternative operators was registered in the first week of June. The Zondacrypto platform still has around 1.3 million users across Europe, of whom about 380,000 are in the Baltic region. In the broader context, Finantsinspektsioon reiterated that after 1 July only operators with a full MiCA CASP licence or a passporting notification from another European Economic Area member state will be allowed to operate in the Estonian market. Estonia has so far issued only one full MiCA CASP licence, reflecting the broader market consolidation dynamics of 2023-2025.

Latvia - TWINO Investments receives MiCA authorisation for crypto-asset services

In Latvia, the main event on Friday was Latvijas Banka's announcement that it had authorised the investment brokerage firm AS TWINO Investments to provide crypto-asset services in accordance with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation. Using its investment brokerage licence, AS TWINO Investments is entitled, from 4 June 2026, to provide custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, the exchange of crypto-assets for funds and for other crypto-assets, and the execution of crypto-asset-related orders on behalf of clients. TWINO Investments has been a Latvijas Banka-licensed investment brokerage firm since 31 August 2021, and the authorisation was obtained under the MiCA principle that existing financial market participants already holding a Latvijas Banka licence may receive authorisation to provide certain types of crypto-asset services.

In May, Latvijas Banka had already granted authorisations to other operators, including Paybis, which received both a MiCA CASP and a PSD2 payment services authorisation, reinforcing Latvia's position as a gateway to the European Union fintech market. Latvijas Banka is currently continuing to process several active formal applications and pre-submission consultation cases. Latvijas Banka representatives note that each application is assessed with particular attention to technological security and client-fund segregation mechanisms, and that the market awaits further authorisation announcements in June.

Latvia's experience with its 12-month national transition period until 30 December continues to serve as a model of best practice for the region. This approach has given the regulator sufficient capacity for a thorough assessment of each application while not creating market turbulence for customers. Latvijas Banka has indicated that around 60 percent of applications require additional documentary clarifications in the technological security section. In June, Latvijas Banka will hold public hearings on the technical aspects of MiCA implementation - on regulating the relationship between stablecoin issuers and operators, client-fund segregation, and cross-border service notification procedures. The hearings will be held in a hybrid format, with in-person attendance in Riga and remote participation.

Lithuania - the technical blocking mechanism and licensed operators

In Lithuania, Lietuvos bankas continued preparing on Friday to activate the technical blocking mechanism after 1 July. The mechanism is coordinated with internet service providers and financial payment system operators and will ensure that unlicensed crypto operators can no longer serve Lithuanian customers. The mechanism will initially cover around 280 operator websites which, according to a Lietuvos bankas review, have not currently submitted MiCA applications and continue to actively advertise their services to Lithuanian consumers.

Lithuania's approach remains notably strict - the regulator has publicly warned that after 1 July unlicensed operators face financial sanctions, website blocking and, in some cases, criminal liability for company managers. Of around 32 submitted MiCA CASP applications, three have received a full licence - Robinhood Europe, Nuvei Liquidity and Decentralized (the Coingate brand) - and two further applications are in the final review phase. The next HIPTHER regional conference in November 2026 will be held in Vilnius, which the industry sees as confirmation of Lithuania's growing role in the region's fintech sector.

Finland and Sweden - Coinmotion, Northcrypto, Safello and Bitwise

In Finland, Coinmotion and Northcrypto continue to operate under previously granted MiCA CASP licences. Coinmotion's management confirmed that a second regional office will open in Stockholm by the end of July, with a five-person team supporting expansion into the Swedish market. Finanssivalvonta reiterated that the transition period in Finland ends on 30 June and that an operation-suspension procedure will be activated for all unlicensed operators after that date. Northcrypto offers more than 260 crypto-assets in a MiCA-licensed environment and plans to add six more assets in July that were previously delisted during the transition period.

In Sweden, Safello continues to prepare for its expansion plan into the Norwegian market via the MiCA passporting mechanism, with an operational launch planned for the first week of July. Following Firi's licence, the Swedish market is becoming an increasingly active competitive arena where the expansion plans of several regional operators overlap. Bitwise continues to prepare two additional exchange-traded products to be listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in July - one offering exposure to Ethereum, the other to Solana with a physical custody structure. These products would complement Bitwise's existing range of seven crypto ETPs on Nasdaq Stockholm and reflect the growing institutional demand for regulated crypto investment instruments in the Nordic market.

Denmark and the European context - passporting and the MiCA review

In Denmark, Finanstilsynet continues to use the full 18-month grandfathering period, and on Friday Denmark still had no national MiCA CASP licence issued. The Danish market relies primarily on operators passporting in from Norway and Finland, and following Firi's licence, market participants expect that Firi could extend its operations to Denmark via the passporting mechanism as well. The advisory working group of Nasdaq Copenhagen on the listing of crypto ETP products, whose first meeting is planned for July, continues its work with representatives from Bitwise, 21Shares and Nordea.

In the broader European context, the European Commission's consultation on the review of the MiCA regime, which will be open until 31 August, continued on Friday. The Baltic Banking Association and the Nordic Fintech Association are preparing a joint submission that will focus on three areas - harmonising stablecoin issuer guarantees, accelerating the public register of passporting notifications, and capacity-support mechanisms for small national regulators in cross-border crisis situations. At the ESMA level, preparations continue for the final MiCA guidelines, which will take effect on 28 July.

Market context and the agenda for the coming days

In Friday's trading data, Bitcoin traded near USD 74,800, holding a stable zone after the correction at the start of the week. Ethereum traded near USD 2,040, and the overall crypto market volume remained moderately stable. The regional crypto sector's market reaction remains moderate - investors continue to focus on global macroeconomic factors and the US Federal Reserve's June meeting policy on the base interest rate. The FOMC meeting will take place on 17-18 June, and the market broadly expects an unchanged base interest rate policy.

In the coming days, market attention will turn to Firi's announcements regarding the timeline of its Swedish expansion and to further authorisation announcements from Latvijas Banka following the AS TWINO Investments authorisation. The NBX shareholders' meeting takes place on 12 June, while the Zondacrypto remediation deadline at Estonia's Finantsinspektsioon ends on 17 June. Throughout June, regional regulators will continue customer information campaigns about checking MiCA status.

Investors using Baltic or Nordic crypto exchanges are still advised, before 1 July, to check an operator's MiCA licence status in the ESMA interim CASP register or the relevant national regulator's register. This is the only reliable guarantee that a service provider will be able to continue operating after the end of the transition period and that client funds will be protected under the single European Union regime. If an operator has not published a clear statement about its MiCA application status or transition plans, this is a well-founded caution signal for customers.

Sources

• Finanstilsynet - Firi AS får tillatelse som CASP-foretak
• Finanstilsynet - AK Jensen Norway AS blir Norges første CASP-foretak
• Finanstilsynet - TÝR Markets AS får tillatelse som CASP-foretak
• Finanstilsynet - Kryptoeiendelsloven (MiCA)
• Kaupr - Firi moving into Sweden with the goal of becoming number one
• ESMA - Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) overview