Stripe-owned Bridge joins EU MiCA register

Bridge Building, the Luxembourg entity behind the Stripe-owned stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge, was added to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register, according to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

Bridge announced on July 2 that Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) had granted it a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization under MiCA and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence. The ESMA entry reflects those approvals.

ESMA’s update shows Bridge’s inclusion raised the number of MiCA-authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers to 42. The register lists 324 authorized crypto-asset service providers after three German banks — Volksbank Die Gestalterbank, VBU Volksbank im Unterland and VR-Bank Erding — were added. The update recorded no asset-referenced token (ART) issuers and no change to the list of non-compliant firms.

Bridge is owned by payments company Stripe and provides stablecoin issuance and payment rails for businesses and platforms. With the CASP authorization and EMI licence from Luxembourg, the company can operate its regulated services under the MiCA framework from its Luxembourg base.

Mai Leduc Blount, head of product at Bridge, commented that the approvals allow businesses in the EU to build stablecoin and payment products within a regulated framework.

The MiCA register entry creates a public record of Bridge’s authorization status for counterparties and clients as the EU’s new crypto rules take effect and other firms pursue approvals.