Ripple said on Monday that it had received full approval for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), a step that would allow the company to scale regulated payments services across the European Union.
Ripple announced “preliminary” approval last month and has since met all conditions required by the CSSF, which has now granted final authorization.
“Europe has always been a strategic priority for us, and this authorization allows us to expand our mission of providing robust and compliant blockchain infrastructure to customers across the EU,” said Cassie Craddock, Ripple’s managing director for the UK and Europe.
“We are now better positioned than ever to help European businesses transition to a more efficient, digital-first financial era,” he added.
The move builds on Ripple’s recent regulatory push in Europe. The company said it received an EMI license and cryptoasset registration from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last month, adding to a growing set of permissions to operate payments and cryptocurrency-related services in key jurisdictions.
Ripple framed the Luxembourg license as a lever to accelerate “Ripple Payments” across the EU – its cross-border payments product aimed at banks, fintechs and enterprise customers.
Luxembourg is commonly used as a base for regulated financial services across the EU, although Ripple did not detail how quickly it expects to roll out the services or which member states are first in line.
Ripple also said its number of global licenses has increased to more than 75, positioning it as one of the largest licensed companies in crypto as the industry moves toward regulated, institution-oriented use cases.
