Ireland's MiCA CASP authorisation is granted by the Central Bank of Ireland, the sole competent authority, and replaced the legacy VASP registration under the Criminal Justice Act 2010. Ireland declined a simplified conversion route: every applicant faces the full process whatever its VASP history, and the transitional period ended on 30 December 2025. Around ten CASPs were authorised by late 2025, Kraken in June 2025 and Coinbase among them, with StoneX the tenth, and the population has continued to grow into 2026. A revised Consumer Protection Code has applied since 24 March 2026.
The Central Bank is known as a demanding, gatekeeper-style regulator with an explicitly high authorisation threshold. A mandatory, open-ended pre-application phase with a Key Facts Document precedes the statutory clock, so the real elapsed time runs well past the headline assessment period. The bank is sceptical of retail-facing speculative models and will refuse on supervisability grounds; prior VASP status earns no credit.
Capital follows the MiCA class-based minimums, scaling by class, with close scrutiny of three-year projections. There is no separate one-off application fee, since costs are recovered through the annual industry funding levy, but advisory and build work is the dominant spend. Ongoing obligations include that levy, DORA reporting, an AML programme, the Consumer Protection Code, audit and the Fitness and Probity regime.
Substance expectations are high: an Irish-incorporated entity led by a local, crypto-competent executive and board with genuine local decision-making, and effective management that cannot sit outside the EU. The process is transparent and English-speaking, and marquee firms have succeeded. Once granted, the authorisation passports across the EU and EEA under MiCA.