Written by: Lawyer Yang Qi

On December 17, 2025, the Bank of Lithuania (also known as Lietuvos bankas) announced that it has granted Nuvei Liquidity, UAB a Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license, along with a Payment Institution license. This means that Nuvei (a global payment technology group headquartered in Canada) has obtained a "compliance passport" under the EU MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) framework, allowing it to integrate crypto asset services more closely with traditional payment capabilities within the same regulated system.

01 What happened: What exactly did Nuvei obtain in Lithuania?

According to the announcement from the Bank of Lithuania, the CASP license granted to Nuvei Liquidity, UAB covers the following services:

• Custody and administration of crypto assets

• Transfer services for crypto assets

• Exchange of crypto assets for fiat funds

• Exchange of one crypto asset for another

At the same time, the company also received a Payment Institution license, explicitly mentioning that it can conduct operations related to Electronic Money Tokens (EMT).

In summary: "Crypto asset service license + payment license" dual certification in hand, allows Nuvei to operate with a clearer regulatory identity, facilitating the integration and commercial implementation of the entire chain of "fiat—stablecoin/crypto asset—clearing and settlement."

02 Why Lithuania? Why is this particularly critical now?

1) MiCA has entered a "fully applicable" regulatory phase

The applicability of MiCA is phased:

• Rules concerning ART/EMT (stablecoins) will apply from June 30, 2024;

• Other core rules (including the CASP authorization framework) will apply from December 30, 2024.

This means that the previously "each country doing its own thing" gray area is tightening, and the EU market is shifting towards unified licensing, unified standards, and unified regulatory expectations.

2) Lithuania has set a strict "transition period" deadline

The Bank of Lithuania publicly indicated in mid-2025 that the transition period for the CASP license in Lithuania will end on December 31, 2025. After this date, service providers that have not obtained a MiCA license will lose their eligibility to continue operating locally and may even be considered illegal financial activities.

Thus, you will see a very realistic market scenario: the end of 2025 becomes a concentrated window for applications and approvals—Nuvei's approval on December 17 is not "coincidental," but rather an "inevitable" result driven by regulatory timing.

03 The true value of the MiCA license: not just compliance, but also "EU replicable" business capability

The core appeal of MiCA lies in: approval in one country allows for "passporting" across the EU. Nuvei also emphasized in its press release that MiCA authorization will help it provide services across the EU under a single regulatory framework, reducing the compliance and operational complexity of cross-border expansion.

For payment companies/merchant platforms, this brings three direct changes:

1) Crypto payments are no longer just "technical access," but "licensed capability"
If you want to engage in crypto acquiring, on-chain settlement, custody, or exchange, first answer this: do you (or your partners) have a CASP license?

2) The boundaries between stablecoins and payments are becoming more "regulated"
The EBA (European Banking Authority) also provided regulatory guidance in 2025 regarding the connection between MiCA and PSD2 (especially concerning EMT-related transfers), further indicating that the relationship between "stablecoins/electronic money tokens" and traditional payment regulation is not clear-cut, but rather will exhibit overlaps and interactions.

3) B2B clients (platforms, institutional merchants) will place greater emphasis on "auditable compliance foundations"
Risk control, anti-money laundering, customer asset segregation, outsourced management, technology and information security, complaint handling, and consumer protection… will shift from being "added value" to "entry thresholds."

04 Signals to the industry: Crypto and traditional payments are "at the same regulatory table"

Nuvei's case is typical: it is essentially a global payment infrastructure company, rather than a traditional "pure crypto exchange." By choosing to obtain CASP authorization and layering on a payment license, it sends a clear signal:

The winners in the next phase are likely to be those institutions that can create an "end-to-end payment and clearing experience" for fiat, stablecoins (EMT), and crypto assets under the same compliance framework.

By the way, Nuvei is also a licensed institution in Singapore (as indicated in the MAS financial institution directory, it is classified as a Major Payment Institution). This route of "multi-jurisdiction licensing + product integration" is becoming the mainstream approach for global payment technology companies.

05 Practical advice for overseas teams: If you also want to engage in "EU crypto payments/settlements," how should you plan?

The following "decision checklist" is suitable for payment companies, wallets, merchant platforms, OTC/brokerage services, and on-chain settlement service providers (not legal advice):

• Define your business boundaries first: Are you providing custody? Exchange? Transfers? Matching? Or just technical services/channels? Different combinations trigger different licensing paths.

• Determine if EMT/stablecoin elements are involved: If your product chain involves EMT (Electronic Money Token) related operations, you often need to consider both payment regulation and the connection with MiCA.

• Don’t treat "passporting" as a guaranteed win: There are discussions and negotiations within the EU regarding the rhythm and consistency of "regulatory arbitrage/passporting," and cross-border expansion still requires solid compliance implementation and regulatory communication plans.

• Treat compliance as a product: KYC/KYB, on-chain monitoring, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, customer asset segregation, IT security and outsourced management, auditing and reporting mechanisms—these capabilities should be systematized as early as possible to approach "scalable growth." (The Lithuanian regulator also emphasizes that the quality and preparedness of application materials are very high.)

Conclusion

Nuvei's approval in Lithuania may superficially appear as a "license acquisition" news; at a deeper level, it signals a turning point for EU crypto payments from "whether it can be done" to "who can do it compliantly and at scale."

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