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Crypto exchanges 06.06: quiet weekend in the Baltics

Saturday passed with no new regulatory announcements. Weekly recap: Firi CASP licence, TWINO Investments authorisation and the Zondacrypto remediation deadline - 24 days to the end of the MiCA transition.

Toms Ābeltiņš

7 June 20266 min read

Saturday 6 June passed with no new regulatory decisions in the Baltic and Nordic crypto market. This recap collects the week’s key events - Firi’s CASP licence, Latvijas Banka’s authorisation of TWINO Investments and the Zondacrypto situation - 24 days before the MiCA deadline.

Saturday, 6 June 2026, passed without any new regulatory announcements in the Baltic and Nordic crypto market. The region's supervisory authorities - Latvijas Banka, Lietuvos bankas, Estonia's Finantsinspektsioon, Finland's Finanssivalvonta and Norway's Finanstilsynet - do not normally publish new decisions over the weekend, so this is a quiet pause before the working week resumes. That does not mean the market is standing still: behind the scenes, operators continue preparing for the end of the MiCA transition period, now just 24 days away. This summary collects the most important developments of the week and sets out what regional participants should watch in the coming days. The market context on Saturday remains calm - Bitcoin trades near USD 74,600 on low weekend volume, which is typical for Saturdays when institutional trading has thinned out.

The week's main event - Firi wins Norway's CASP licence

The most important news of the past week came on Friday, 5 June, from Oslo. Norway's 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 authorised to provide trading-platform, exchange and custody services in full. Firi serves more than 400,000 verified clients and is the largest crypto exchange in the Nordics by registered user count. With the licence in hand, the company can use the MiCA passporting mechanism to expand across the European Economic Area, and Sweden has been named as its first expansion market.

Firi's licence joins Norway's growing list of authorised operators alongside AK Jensen Norway AS and TÝR Markets AS. Market participants view the decision as confirmation that the Norwegian regulator's assessment process has matured, and that several more decisions could follow in the weeks before the 1 July deadline - including the anticipated Bare Bitcoin licence linked to its strategic partnership with the Sparebank 1 group.

Latvia - new MiCA authorisations and active licensing

Latvia reinforced its position as one of the region's most active MiCA licensors over the past week. On Friday, Latvijas Banka announced that the investment brokerage firm AS TWINO Investments had been authorised to provide crypto-asset services under MiCA - covering custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients, exchange against funds and other crypto-assets, and execution of orders. The authorisation was granted under the principle that existing financial market participants already holding a Latvijas Banka licence may obtain authorisation to provide certain crypto-asset services.

In May, Latvijas Banka had already granted authorisations to several operators, including Paybis, which received both a MiCA CASP and a PSD2 payment services authorisation. Latvia's experience with a 12-month national transition period until 30 December continues to serve as a regional best-practice example, giving the regulator sufficient capacity for a thorough assessment of each application. During June, Latvijas Banka will hold public hearings on technical aspects of MiCA implementation, including client-fund segregation and cross-border service notification procedures.

Estonia - Zondacrypto remediation deadline approaches

In Estonia, the assessment of the compliance remediation situation at Zondacrypto operator BB Trade Estonia OÜ continues. Saturday is the 19th day of the 30-day period, which ends on 17 June. Finantsinspektsioon previously confirmed that the regulator has received the operator's first formal interim report on the execution of the remediation plan, and that a final decision on the future status of the operating licence will be announced within a week of the deadline.

The Zondacrypto platform continues to operate normally in the service categories not affected by the partial suspension. Estonia currently has only one full MiCA CASP licence issued, reflecting the broader 2023-2025 market consolidation dynamic, in which the country moved from a very large number of registered operators to a far stricter licensing regime. Finantsinspektsioon has again stressed that after 1 July, only operators with a full MiCA CASP licence or a passporting notification from another European Economic Area member state may operate in the Estonian market.

Lithuania - blocking mechanism and licensed operators

In Lithuania, Lietuvos bankas continues preparing to activate a 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 clients. Lithuania's approach remains notably strict - the regulator has publicly warned that after the deadline, unlicensed operators face financial sanctions and website blocking.

Among the submitted MiCA CASP applications, full licences have been granted to Robinhood Europe, Nuvei Liquidity and Decentralized (the Coingate brand), with two more applications in the final assessment phase. Coingate has already completed its migration to the full MiCA regime under Lithuanian supervision, ensuring uninterrupted operations in custody, exchange and fund-transfer services across Europe.

Finland, Sweden and Norway - operators prepare

In Finland, Coinmotion and Northcrypto continue operating on previously granted MiCA CASP licences. Coinmotion received its licence from Finanssivalvonta back in September 2025, and Northcrypto in November. Finanssivalvonta has again confirmed that the transition period in Finland ends on 30 June and that a suspension procedure will be activated for all unlicensed operators after that date.

In Sweden, Safello - which already expanded into Finland this year via the MiCA passporting mechanism - continues preparing its expansion plan for the Norwegian market. 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 expand its range of crypto exchange-traded products on Nasdaq Stockholm, reflecting growing institutional demand for regulated crypto investment instruments in the Nordic market. In Norway, NBX is preparing for its 12 June shareholder meeting, at which a planned NOK 180 million capital issue will be voted on to fund expansion and cover MiCA compliance costs.

Market context and next week's agenda

In Saturday's trading data, Bitcoin trades near USD 74,600, holding a stable zone after the week's consolidation, while Ethereum trades near USD 2,030. The low weekend volume typical of the period means price swings can be sharper on smaller trades, so short-term moves in this window do not always reflect the broader market trend. Investors continue to focus on global macroeconomic factors, particularly the US Federal Reserve meeting on 17-18 June, where the market broadly expects an unchanged base rate policy.

Next week, regional attention will turn to several events. The Norwegian NBX shareholder meeting takes place on 12 June, the Estonian Zondacrypto remediation deadline ends on 17 June, and throughout the week the market will await further authorisation announcements from Latvijas Banka and other regulators ahead of the 1 July deadline. At the European level, the European Commission's MiCA review consultation continues, remaining open until 31 August.

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

Norriwire Briefing