Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) was granted regulatory approval by the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), allowing it to offer crypto products to consumers and businesses in the country.
Coinbase is the first crypto exchange to win registration in the Netherlands, the firm said Thursday.
Approval from the Dutch authorities will allow Coinbase to operate across the 26 other European Union member nations once the EU's Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation comes into force. The EU finalized the full text of the legislation this week. Registration or licensing applications are underway in several other major markets, Coinbase said.
"The Netherlands is a critical international market for crypto, and I am really excited for Coinbase to bring the potential of the crypto economy to the market here,” Nana Murugesan, Coinbase's VP of international and business development, said in a statement.
Coinbase follows rival crypto exchanges such as Binance, which registered in France, and Bitstamp, in Italy, in gaining regulatory approval in individual European countries this year, in theory making it easier to operate across the EU following MiCA becoming law.
