OSL Group, a global stablecoin payment and trading platform, has achieved a landmark regulatory milestone in Europe. Its subsidiary, OSL EU, has been granted authorization as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). The authorisation confers passport rights across all 30 countries of the European Economic Area (EEA), placing OSL Group among the very small cohort of firms licensed under both Hong Kong’s and Europe’s stringent digital asset frameworks.
A Regime That Separated the Licensed from the Rest
The significance of OSL EU’s authorisation is best understood against the broader market backdrop. Of more than 1,200 crypto firms that held national registrations across the EU, only approximately 210 — roughly 17% — successfully converted to full CASP authorisation ahead of the 1 July 2026 deadline imposed by MiCAR. The remaining firms have either exited the European market or lost the legal right to serve EU clients. Notably, several of the industry’s largest and most recognised names are not among those authorised.
The conversion rate narrows further when restricted to trading platforms, making the cohort of compliant exchanges a genuinely elite group.
“MiCAR is the most demanding test the global crypto industry has faced, and the results are now on the record: fewer than one in five previously registered firms successfully transitioned to full CASP authorisation, and some of the largest names in the industry are not on the list,” said Chagri Poyraz, Chief Strategy Officer of OSL Group. “Clearing it is not a marketing line. It is evidence that a firm’s governance, controls and compliance actually hold up under a regulator’s scrutiny, rather than a promise that they would. That is the standard we have built OSL Group around from our Hong Kong base outward, and it is why institutions can read this authorisation as a signal, not a slogan.”
A Dual-Regulated Global Footprint
OSL Group’s path to European authorisation builds on a foundation established in one of the world’s most tightly regulated crypto jurisdictions. The group’s subsidiary, OSL Digital Securities Limited, was among the first virtual asset platforms licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), a regime internationally recognised for its rigorous standards on custody, investor protection and market conduct. Securing MiCAR authorisation through Austria now extends that same institutional-grade model into Europe.
The result is a dual-regulated standing that few platforms in the global industry can claim: full authorisation under the SFC’s regime in Hong Kong and full CASP status under MiCAR across the EEA. OSL Group also holds an Australian Financial Services Licence, further broadening its multi-jurisdictional footprint alongside authorisations across Asia and the Americas.
“Europe set the global benchmark for digital-asset regulation, and most of the market did not make it through,” said Kevin Cui, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of OSL Group. “Building on our Hong Kong foundation, our recent Australian licence, and our authorisations across Asia and the Americas, this is what long-term, institution-grade infrastructure looks like. As the industry consolidates around the platforms that did the work properly, we intend to be one of the names that lasting trust is built on.”
One Licence, Thirty Markets
Under the FMA authorisation, OSL EU is empowered to provide a suite of regulated crypto-asset services to institutional and eligible clients across all 30 EEA member states. The authorised service scope encompasses:
- Custody and administration of crypto-assets
- Spot trading in crypto-assets
- On-ramp and off-ramp conversion services
- Transfer of crypto-assets
Because MiCAR replaces 27 separate national licensing regimes with a single harmonised regulatory framework, OSL EU’s single Austrian authorisation passports seamlessly across the entire bloc. In practice, this removes the need for institution-by-institution or country-by-country regulatory negotiation and significantly strengthens OSL Group’s ability to establish European banking relationships, integrate with local financial market infrastructure and onboard institutional counterparties at scale.
MiCAR, which came into full force on 30 December 2024 and set a transitional deadline of 1 July 2026 for pre-existing registered operators, represents the most comprehensive legislative framework for crypto-assets introduced by any major jurisdiction. Its requirements cover governance and organisational standards, capital adequacy, safeguarding and custody of client assets, conflict of interest management, market abuse prevention and ongoing supervisory reporting. Firms must demonstrate compliance across all relevant service categories to achieve full authorisation rather than provisional registration.
The rigour of MiCAR’s requirements — and the volume of firms that failed to meet them — underscores the market-differentiating value of full CASP status for those that have obtained it.
OSL Group is a global stablecoin payment and trading platform headquartered in Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The group operates one of Asia’s largest institutional-grade digital asset trading and custody platforms, with regulatory authorizations spanning Hong Kong, Europe, Australia, and the Americas. OSL Digital Securities Limited was among the first virtual asset trading platforms licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Through its European subsidiary OSL EU, the group is now authorised under MiCAR to serve institutional and eligible clients across all 30 EEA countries. OSL Group’s services encompass spot trading, OTC and execution solutions, custody, tokenization, stablecoin infrastructure and payment solutions.
The Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde (FMA) is Austria’s independent, integrated financial markets regulator. Established by law in 2002, the FMA supervises the banking, insurance, securities and pension sectors, and serves as the national competent authority for the implementation of EU financial services legislation in Austria. Under MiCAR, the FMA is responsible for authorizing and supervising Crypto-Asset Service Providers operating within Austria and, by virtue of the EU passport mechanism, those using Austria as their home-state authorization to offer services across the EEA.
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