In collaboration with Swiss crypto infrastructure provider Taurus, the French Banque Delubac & Cie, which was founded in 1924, has been the first to achieve the title of Digital Asset Service Provider (“DASP”), permitting investing in digital assets.
The DASP licence is based on a statute passed in France in 2019 called the PACTE law, which stands for “Plan d’Action pour la Croissance et la Transformation des Entreprises,” and it should help banks prepare for the next phase of EU regulation, the MiCa, according to Taurus co-founder Lamine Brahimi.
The MiCA (“Markets in Crypto-assets”) law, which was introduced in 2020 and is expected to be fully implemented in 2023, is the first EU-wide legislative initiative to create a complete framework for the issuance of cryptoassets and the provision of cryptoasset-related services.
According to Brahimi, it was unknown until recently whether or how soon traditional banks like Delubac & Cie would move to offer digital assets to their client base. Perhaps they’d leave the space to unregulated organisations, such as companies that don’t have banking licences. On the other hand, Brahimi is now optimistic that other incumbent banks will follow suit.
According to recent research from the Bank of Spain, over half of Europeans favour decentralised exchanges, with France and Germany ranked as the top two crypto-friendly countries in Europe. However, according to Brahimi, a large portion of the European public appreciates the investment protections that come with interacting with a regulated bank.
Read more: Coinbase plans to acquire BtcTurk ,Turkey’s digital asset platform