Plasma, the layer 1 building the stablecoin infrastructure for a new global financial system, announced a series of strategic moves to develop and license Plasma’s stack for global money movement. These include the acquisition of a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP)-licensed entity in Italy, the opening of an Amsterdam Office, and the appointment of Chief Compliance Officer and Money Laundering Reporting Officer in the region. Further to this, Plasma will be applying for Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorisation under MiCA to custody and exchange assets for users, and preparing for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) License to cover the vast majority of global corridors.
These licenses are key to Plasma’s product stack, ensuring that Plasma One, its stablecoin-native neo-bank, and its card can seamlessly onboard and serve users everywhere. By owning a licensed payments stack under MiCA and EMI regulations, Plasma will be able to hold client assets under segregation and safeguarding, operate compliant exchange flows, issue cards, and connect to local money systems. The result is simpler onboarding, fewer intermediaries, faster settlement, lower fees, stronger consumer protections, and a single operating standard for partners.
Plasma’s priority is to ensure it can operate and own a global money network through its own regulated stack, compressing costs, accelerating launches and removing any third-party risk. Plasma’s commitment to build out compliance leadership in the Netherlands and expand its regulatory presence in Europe through CASP authorisation under MiCA, and prepare for an EMI, echoes these efforts. All to give Plasma One licensed rails at scale, moving it closer to a stablecoin infrastructure that serves everyone, everywhere.
“By assembling the regulated capabilities that matter, joining them to places where value actually moves, and turning that into products people and institutions can trust, Plasma’s investment into trusted licensing and deep compliance ensures partners gain a single, dependable standard for custody, exchange, settlement, and spend,” said Jacob Wittman, General Counsel at Plasma. “Our aim is to set a high standard for blockchain-native stablecoin infrastructure by securing the right licences and owning the regulated stack end to end.”
“The Netherlands is one of Europe’s most established payment hubs. Growing our team and regulatory presence here gives us a path to own more of the payments stack, from stablecoin settlement to licensed financial infrastructure,” said Adam Jacobs, Head of Global Payments. “By having control of a fully licensed payments stack, we can offer greater reliability and access to merchants, people, and institutions.”
This announcement comes shortly after Plasma’s mainnet launch and the announcement of their stablecoin native neo-bank, Plasma One. Since mainnet Plasma has become the fifth-largest stablecoin by supply and DeFi TVL, and the fourth-largest for USD₮. With Plasma One having already achieved nearly 100K organic waitlist sign-ups, this announcement demonstrates Plasma’s commitment to delivering Plasma One and the underlying stablecoin rails that power it.