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Status snapshot — CASP licences and the MiCA deadline in the Baltics and Nordic region (6 May 2026)

An updated CASP licence map and watchlist weeks before the 1 July MiCA deadline — no repackaged news, just precise dates

Toms Ābeltiņš

6 May 20266 min read

No significant new developments in the Baltic and Nordic crypto exchange sector in the past 24 hours. This is an honestly dated status snapshot ahead of the 1 July MiCA deadline: a calendar, a country-by-country CASP licence map, global exchange positioning, and a watchlist for the weeks remaining.

Why this article is a status snapshot, not a news brief

In the past 24 hours (5 May), there have been no significant new regulatory or business developments in the Baltic and Nordic crypto exchange sector that can be confirmed with a precise publication date. To keep the series on track without serving up repackaged older news as fresh, today's edition is a status snapshot — an updated CASP licence map and watchlist for the weeks remaining before the final MiCA transitional period deadline of 1 July 2026. All events mentioned are dated so it is clear what is background context and what is recent.

Calendar: deadlines remaining

Three key dates that market participants need to track in the weeks ahead:

1 July 2026 — End of the EU-wide MiCA transitional period. After this date, CASPs without a full MiCA licence may no longer provide services to EU clients and must already have a wind-down plan in place (ESMA reminder from 17 April 2026).
28 July 2026 — ESMA guidelines on the criteria for assessing the knowledge and competence of CASP staff begin to apply (ESMA35-24871704-2922, adopted 28 January 2026). This applies to all licensed CASPs, not just new applicants.
Early 2027 — First DAC8 reporting cycle (DAC8 entered into force 1 January 2026; data collection on crypto transactions is ongoing throughout 2026).

CASP licence map as of early May 2026

Baltics:

Lithuania — Full enforcement regime in place since 1 January 2026. The Bank of Lithuania is the sole competent authority; the first CASP licence was issued back in May 2025 to a firm holding a Category A financial brokerage authorisation. A public warning against Binance UAB for the unauthorised provision of derivatives services remains in force.
Latvia — The national transitional period ended on 30 December 2025. By that point, the Bank of Latvia had issued the first two CASP licences (BlockBen — 3 December 2025, Nexdesk — in the second half of December). The Latvian government continues work on a national fintech strategy; Latvia currently has approximately 140 fintech companies, compared with 270 in Lithuania and 260 in Estonia.
Estonia — Finantsinspektsioon is the sole authority for CASP licensing and supervision. VASP licences issued under the previous FIU regime expire on 1 July 2026 with no automatic conversion; a full application to Finantsinspektsioon is required. Updated capital requirements for 2026: EUR 100,000 for Class 2 services, EUR 150,000 for trading platforms, and EUR 250,000 for virtual currency transfers. LHV Bank continues to offer crypto trading through its mobile app via Bitstamp infrastructure.

Nordics:

Finland — The transitional period ended on 30 June 2025 (one of the shortest in the EU). FIN-FSA is the competent authority. Finland's first CASP — Coinmotion — received its full licence in July 2025, followed by Tesseract and Bittimaatti. Coinmotion has publicly announced plans to expand into Sweden and Norway.
Norway — Finanstilsynet formally extended the national transitional period in April 2026 to 30 June 2026 (or until an application is rejected), making use of the maximum window permitted under MiCA Article 143(3). The rationale given was the high volume and complexity of applications. Norway's first MiCA-licensed CASP is AK Jensen Norway AS (licence in force from 2 February 2026) — a traditional financial services provider holding AIFMD and MiFID licences, rather than a native crypto exchange. Firi, NBX, and other Norwegian exchanges remain in Finanstilsynet's application queue.
Sweden — An institutionally oriented route via Nasdaq Stockholm: Bitwise's suite of seven crypto ETPs is available in SEK denomination, and Nordea offers a Bitcoin tracking ETP. Local crypto exchange CASP licensing remains a MiCA process handled by Finansinspektionen.
Denmark and Iceland — Like Latvia and Norway, both have opted to use the full transitional window through to 1 July 2026.

Global exchange positioning in the EU market

Bybit, through Bybit EU, has obtained a MiCAR licence issued by Austria's FMA, permitting it to provide regulated crypto services across 29 EEA countries. OKX has launched Spot Margin trading for EU/EEA clients (including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland). Binance operates in the EU market through its Lithuanian entity while simultaneously facing the Bank of Lithuania's warning, and alternative EU member state entry options are being discussed in industry news.

Watchlist: what to monitor in the weeks ahead

Fewer than two months remain until the final deadline. Key checkpoints:

Whether the Bank of Latvia, the Bank of Lithuania, and Finantsinspektsioon will issue new CASP licences before the end of June, and to which firms.
Whether any of the major Norwegian exchanges (Firi, NBX) will receive a MiCA licence before the 30 June deadline.
Whether the EBA and ESMA will publish further clarifications on wind-down plan requirements and the transfer of client assets to licensed CASPs.
Whether the quality of DAC8 data collection and systems readiness will meet requirements ahead of the first reporting cycle.

Summary for market participants

The guidance for market participants remains unchanged: verify that your chosen service provider is listed on the ESMA Interim MiCA register or has already received a full CASP licence; monitor the official registers of national regulators; and, for licensed CASPs, prepare in good time for the implementation of ESMA's knowledge and competence guidelines on 28 July. This status snapshot will be updated as soon as new dated developments emerge.