Paybis has become the first company in Latvia to hold both a CASP license under MiCA and a payment processing organization license under PSD2, targeting the white-label infrastructure market for businesses.
The Paybis cryptocurrency platform has just received two licenses from Latvijas Banka, the central bank of Latvia, including a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license under the MiCA regulations and a payment institution license under the PSD2 directive, granted to the EU legal entity SIA Paybis Europe on May 12th. This is the first time a company in Latvia has simultaneously held both types of licenses, a strategically significant milestone as MiCA is gradually becoming the unified standard for digital asset management across the bloc.
The MiCA license covers a wide range of services: custody and administration of crypto assets on behalf of clients, crypto asset exchange, order execution, transfer, and advisory. The PSD2 license allows the company to process payments and transfer funds into payment accounts. This combination is not only legally synergistic, but it also opens up the possibility of seamless connectivity between crypto asset infrastructure and managed payment systems within a single setup.
White-label infrastructure — Paybis' B2B solution
Founded in 2014, Paybis currently supports 90 cryptocurrencies and serves 7 million users in 180 countries, while also holding money service business licenses in the US and Canada. However, its ambitions after these two new licenses do not lie in the individual user segment.
Konstantins Vasilenko, co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer, said the company is targeting enterprise customers with an integrated white-label infrastructure, including on/off-ramp gateways, swap trading, payment acceptance, and stablecoin payouts, all provided through a single API.
This model allows companies to provide cryptocurrency services to their own customers without having to build and manage them themselves, an advantage that significantly reduces compliance costs for partners.
The developments at Paybis reflect a broader trend within the European cryptocurrency regulatory ecosystem. MiCA is entering its practical implementation phase, while EU policymakers have begun discussions on “MiCA 2,” a potential update to the regulatory framework as shortcomings become apparent. Circle has opposed the application of a threshold to euro stablecoins, and the debate over centralizing supervision of large cryptocurrency companies under ESMA remains unresolved.
In this context, possessing both CASP and payment licenses simultaneously is not only a short-term competitive advantage, but also positions one to adapt to any subsequent version of regulations.
