Digital Asset License: What It Takes to Legally Trade or Serve Crypto

When a company wants to handle digital asset license, a legal permit allowing firms to offer crypto services like trading, custody, or staking under government oversight. Also known as CASP authorization, it’s not a form you fill out and forget—it’s a full-time compliance operation. In the EU, getting one under MiCA licensing, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation that standardizes crypto rules across all member states means proving you have millions in capital, a physical office in the EU, and a team that can pass background checks. In the U.S., it’s not one license—it’s a patchwork of state money transmitter licenses, FinCEN registration, and AML programs that cost tens of thousands just to set up.

Most people think a digital asset license is just about getting approved. It’s not. It’s about staying approved. AML compliance, the set of rules requiring crypto businesses to verify users, track transactions, and report suspicious activity isn’t optional anymore. If you skip it, you risk fines, jail time, or worse—your entire business being frozen by regulators. That’s why exchanges like Bitstamp and Taurus (the real one, not the fake TaurusEX) spend more on legal teams than marketing. And why projects like Jswap.Finance or Around Network never got licensed—they were never meant to last. The ones that do get licensed? They don’t run flashy airdrops. They file reports, audit their software, and hire lawyers before they hire developers.

It’s also why so many crypto services vanish overnight. If you’re in Indonesia, you now need OJK approval to even list a token. In China, holding crypto is legal but unenforceable—no license exists because the state doesn’t recognize it as an asset at all. In Bangladesh, people trade P2P to avoid the ban, but they’re still operating outside any digital asset license framework. That’s the reality: the license isn’t just paperwork. It’s the line between a business that survives and one that gets erased by regulators. Below, you’ll find real cases—some companies that cracked the system, others that ignored it and disappeared. No fluff. Just what actually happened when the rules came knocking.