The American company #ripple $XRP , creator of the XRP cryptocurrency, announced yesterday that it has been approved by the Central Bank of Ireland as a virtual asset service provider (VASP).
Registration in Ireland will allow Ripple to offer cryptoasset services throughout the European Union once the Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA) comes into force, which will be at the end of 2024.
Ripple Ireland
The first cryptocurrency exchange to gain VASP approval in Ireland was Gemini. The news, produced in May, was announced with a photo of the Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, with the Winklevoss brothers, both founders of the exchange.
Varadkar congratulated the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange in his X profile for being the first company registered by the country's Central Bank as a virtual asset service provider. Varadkar said it was very important that Gemini had chosen Ireland to base its headquarters in Europe, as its Government focuses on innovation as a driver of growth.
Coinbase also announced in October the choice of Ireland to apply for the license#MiCA of the European Union. Large technology companies such as Facebook (Meta), Google, Amazon and Tik Tok have also chosen Ireland as their European headquarters due to its favorable tax policy. Until recently, corporate tax was 12.5%, the lowest rate in the European Union. Currently it is 15%, but it is still low when compared to that of countries like Spain, which is 25%.
Ripple indicates that it will open its Dublin office in 2022, thus recognizing that Ireland continues to position itself as a favorable destination for companies creating new technologies for financial services.
Eric van Miltenburg, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Ripple, indicated that by providing regulatory clarity for the industry, Ireland and the European Union, in general, are boosting confidence in digital assets, payments and the fintech ecosystem. Which demonstrates its commitment to the long-term development of these industries.
Ripple expansion around the world
The company recalls that in October 2023, Ripple's Singapore subsidiary obtained a license from the Major Payments Institution (MPI), of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In the US, Ripple says it obtained the majority of its 35 money transmission licenses (MTLs) in 2023. MTLs, it says, are a powerful enabler for delivering a best-in-class customer experience.
In November 2023, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) approved the XRP digital asset for use within the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC). This move means that virtual asset companies licensed within the DIFC will now be able to incorporate XRP, the native asset of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), into their virtual asset services.
Ripple believes this approval has the potential to unlock new regional payments and other virtual asset use cases on the XRP Ledger.
