MiCA CASP accounts: fiat rails and settlement for authorised CASPs
MiCA authorisation lets you provide crypto-asset services across the EEA. It does not, on its own, get you a bank account, a named IBAN or a settlement rail — those still have to be arranged separately, with a counterparty willing to bank a crypto-asset firm. This page explains what a CASP actually needs, what KwiikPay provides, and exactly who we can and cannot onboard.
On 1 July 2026 the transitional window under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation closed. National VASP and DASP registrations no longer authorise crypto-asset service anywhere in the EEA. Of roughly 3,000 firms previously registered under national frameworks, about 244 held MiCA authorisation at the deadline, and the count had reached roughly 309 authorised CASPs across the EEA by 24 July. ESMA has publicly asked firms that did not make it through to wind down in an orderly manner.
If you are reading this as one of those ~309, the regulatory question is settled and a duller operational one has replaced it: you are authorised, and you still need somewhere to hold euros.
MiCA authorises your service. It does not bank you.
This is the gap that catches newly authorised firms, and it is structural rather than accidental.
Title V of MiCA governs the authorisation and operating conditions of crypto-asset service providers. It tells you what you may do, what capital and governance you must hold, and how you must safeguard client assets. It says nothing that obliges any bank, electronic money institution or payment institution to open you an account.
So a CASP finishes an eighteen-month authorisation process and discovers that the commercial problem is unchanged:
- Fiat in and out. Named accounts your clients can pay into, on rails they already use — SEPA and SEPA Instant in the EEA, Faster Payments and CHAPS in the UK, wire in the US.
- Foreign exchange. Real spreads on the pairs you actually trade, rather than a card-processor rate applied to institutional size.
- Stablecoin settlement. The ability to move between fiat and stablecoins without routing through a retail exchange account that your own compliance function would never sign off.
- A counterparty that understands the file. One that has read MiCA, knows what an authorised CASP is, and does not treat “crypto” as a single risk category to be declined on sight.
Most banks will not do the fourth thing, which is why the first three stay hard.
What KwiikPay provides to authorised CASPs
KwiikPay is a trading name of KWP Finance Limited, registered in Canada with the Bank of Canada as a payment service provider under the Retail Payment Activities Act, and registered with FINTRAC as a money services business including dealing in virtual currency. Fiat accounts and rails are provided through regulated banking and electronic money partners; we are the counterparty you contract with and the operator of the accounts.
| What you get | Detail |
|---|---|
| Multi-currency accounts | Named accounts in GBP, EUR and USD, with local rails rather than correspondent routing wherever the corridor supports it |
| Wholesale FX | Interbank-referenced pricing with the margin disclosed as a rate, not buried in a spread you cannot see |
| Stablecoin settlement | USDC, USDT and EURC, settled against your fiat balance on the same platform |
| OTC desk | Approval-gated execution for size that would move a lit order book |
| Payout corridors | 30+ corridors for client redemptions and operational payments |
Pricing is published in full on the pricing page — a monthly minimum by risk band and a rate by volume, with every supplier cost passed through and shown. We do not quote a rate and recover it elsewhere.
Who we can onboard, stated plainly
We would rather lose an enquiry at the top of the page than at the end of a due-diligence process. So:
We can serve crypto-asset firms incorporated and authorised in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Switzerland or Canada. For EEA firms carrying on crypto-asset services, that means MiCA authorisation and an entry on the ESMA register.
We cannot serve:
- Firms whose national VASP or DASP registration lapsed on 1 July 2026 and that hold no replacement authorisation.
- Firms with an authorisation application in progress but not yet granted.
- Crypto-asset businesses operating without authorisation in any jurisdiction.
- Firms incorporated outside the five jurisdictions above, other than by individual assessment with no presumption of approval.
- Any business in a sector on our published risk appetite statement, which includes unlicensed money services and unlicensed exchanges regardless of how the relationship is structured.
That list is a constraint of the regulated rails behind the accounts. It is not a commercial posture and we cannot trade it away.
The due-diligence file, answered up front
If you are the MLRO or Head of Compliance, you are the gate, and you will want these answered before a commercial conversation starts. Taking them in the order they usually arrive:
Who is the legal entity? KWP Finance Limited, a Canadian federal corporation, trading as KwiikPay. One entity — there is no group structure routing your funds through a second company you were not told about.
What registrations does it hold? Bank of Canada payment service provider registration under the Retail Payment Activities Act, and FINTRAC money services business registration including dealing in virtual currency. Both are registrations, not licences or authorisations, and we describe them that way deliberately — the Canadian regimes are registration-based and firms that call them licences are telling you something about their care with language.
Is client money safeguarded? Fiat balances are held in dedicated safeguarding accounts at regulated financial institutions, segregated from corporate funds, and used only to execute your instructions. Digital-asset balances sit outside that framework; the custodial and network risk is set out in our Terms of Business and you should read it rather than take this summary for it.
What is the financial-crime posture? A published risk appetite statement, sanctions screening against the applicable lists, KYB on every corporate customer down to beneficial ownership, and a named MLRO.
How is the Travel Rule handled? Originator and beneficiary information is transmitted with qualifying transfers in line with FATF Recommendation 16 as implemented in the applicable regime. Our approach is set out in Travel Rule for crypto and in the longer explainer.
Which jurisdictions are excluded? The prohibited and high-risk lists live in the risk appetite statement and are maintained there rather than restated across the site, so there is one version and it is the current one.
A note on terminology, because it matters to this audience
“VASP” is still the FATF term and remains correct globally. Inside the EEA it is no longer the operative one — since 1 July 2026 the term is CASP, and a firm still describing itself as an EEA VASP is either behind or imprecise. We keep a separate explainer on VASP licensing for the global and non-EEA reading of the term.
We mention this because it is a cheap test you can run on any provider pitching you. Ask what regime authorises the counterparty and what it authorises them to do. A provider that answers in the wrong vocabulary for your regime has not read the file.
Talking to us
Send your authorisation reference and register entry, your incorporation and ownership documents, and your AML and sanctions policy. We will tell you quickly whether we can serve you, and if the answer is no you will get the reason rather than silence.
FAQs
Is KwiikPay a MiCA-authorised CASP?
No, and we do not present ourselves as one. KwiikPay is a trading name of KWP Finance Limited, registered in Canada with the Bank of Canada as a payment service provider under the Retail Payment Activities Act and registered with FINTRAC as a money services business, including dealing in virtual currency. We provide accounts, foreign exchange and settlement to crypto-asset firms; we do not provide crypto-asset services into the EEA under MiCA. If your own authorisation requires that a counterparty hold a specific EEA permission, tell us during due diligence so we can confirm whether we fit before either side spends time on it.
Do I need to be MiCA-authorised to open an account?
You need to be licensed or registered for the activity you carry on, in a jurisdiction we can serve. For crypto-asset firms operating in the EEA after 1 July 2026 that means MiCA authorisation. Firms in the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Switzerland and Canada are assessed against their own home regime rather than MiCA. We do not onboard crypto-asset businesses that hold no authorisation anywhere.
My national VASP registration lapsed on 1 July 2026. Can you still onboard me?
No. Once the transitional regime closed, a lapsed national registration no longer authorises crypto-asset service in the EEA, and ESMA has asked firms in that position to wind down in an orderly manner. We cannot take on an EEA crypto-asset firm that is trading without authorisation. If you have an authorisation application in progress, come back to us when it is granted — we would rather say no now than unwind a relationship later.
Which jurisdictions can you serve?
Firms incorporated and authorised in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Switzerland and Canada. Anything outside that set needs individual assessment and is not guaranteed. This is a constraint of the regulated rails behind the accounts, not a preference, so it is not something we can waive commercially.
How are client funds held?
Fiat balances we receive from you are held in dedicated safeguarding accounts at regulated financial institutions, segregated from KwiikPay's own corporate funds, and are not used for any purpose other than executing your instructions. Digital-asset balances are not held under that same safeguarding framework — the custodial and network risks are set out in our Terms of Business, and you should read that section before moving material balances.
What do you need for counterparty due diligence?
Your authorisation reference and the register entry that evidences it, incorporation documents, ownership and control structure down to beneficial owners, your AML and sanctions policy, your Travel Rule arrangements, and the name of the person responsible for financial crime at your firm. We run the same checks on ourselves that you would expect to run on us, and we will answer a due-diligence questionnaire in return.