The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) has officially granted Zerohash a Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) license, enabling the company to provide stablecoin and crypto-asset infrastructure services throughout the European Economic Area (EEA). With this approval, Zerohash joins a small group of companies that are among the first to operate under the bloc’s unified regulatory framework for digital assets.
According to the company, the MiCA license allows Zerohash Europe to support banks, fintechs, and payment platforms across 30 EU countries through a regulated Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) designation listed in the AFM public registry.
“Receiving MiCA authorization is a significant milestone in our mission to deliver secure, compliant access to digital assets,” said Zerohash founder and CEO Edward Woodford. “We believe blockchain-based assets and stablecoins will become embedded components of financial infrastructure. This license enables us to scale those services across Europe under a harmonized regulatory regime.”
Roeland Goldberg, Board Member at Zerohash Europe, emphasized that the clarity brought by MiCA is accelerating institutional interest.
“As regulation becomes standardized, leading banks, fintechs, and payment processors are actively evaluating tokenization, stablecoin issuance, and integrated crypto services,” he said.
API-Based Access and Protected Custody
Zerohash highlighted that its platform allows institutions to integrate crypto and stablecoin functionality through a single API-first framework, supporting payments, transfers, custody, and compliance. Customer digital assets are stored via a segregated custodial trust structure to ensure bankruptcy protection.
The company noted that the Dutch license expands its already global regulatory footprint, which includes approvals in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, Australia, and Latin America. Zerohash currently powers infrastructure for a number of major partners, including Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, Stripe, Worldpay, Interactive Brokers, Securitize, Shift4, and Public.com.
In September 2025, Zerohash closed a Series D-2 funding round of $104 million, led by Interactive Brokers with participation from Morgan Stanley, SoFi, and Apollo, valuing the company at approximately $1 billion.
Potential $1.5–$2B Acquisition by Mastercard
The MiCA approval arrives amid reports that Mastercard is in late-stage negotiations to acquire Zerohash in a deal valued between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, according to Fortune. Discussions remain ongoing and no final decision has been announced.
Mastercard has been actively expanding into stablecoin settlement. In August, the company announced support for merchant and acquirer payments in USDC and EURC across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley — a key Zerohash partner — is preparing to launch crypto trading on the E*Trade platform in 2026 using Zerohash infrastructure.
