Kaupr Today - Wednesday, 1 July 2026
MiCA is live. And on the same day, Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and 140 others just declared war on Tether and Circle.
💎 MiCA takes effect today — NBX, Strike and CZ all have something to say about it
💎 Germany leads with 57 licences — five EU states have issued none
💎 OpenUSD launches: 140 companies, shared reserve income, no fees
💎 BlackRock tells wealth advisors: 1–2% Bitcoin is reasonable
— Morten
📺 Kaupr Event — State of ETFs in the Nordics: Digital Assets & Regulated Products
Yesterday, Kaupr hosted nine senior voices from the ETF and crypto industry for a two-hour live discussion on the Nordic digital-asset ETP and ETF market. The event was supported by Coinmotion, K33, The Mint and TÝR Markets. If you missed it, the full recording is now available.
MiCA live — and the market is already sorting itself out
NBX gets MiCA licence — can offer services across the EEA
Norwegian Block Exchange has received its CASP licence under MiCA, becoming authorised to offer trading, custody and stablecoin services across all 30 EEA countries. NBX is the sole European issuer of USDM, a dollar stablecoin on the Cardano blockchain, and has initiated a banking licence application in Latvia. The company expects to turn profitable for the first time in Q4 2026.
Why it matters: NBX is Oslo-listed and small by global standards — but MiCA's passporting principle means size no longer determines reach. The same EEA-wide market is now available to NBX as to Coinbase and Kraken.
Source: NBX gets MiCA licence — can offer services across the EEA — Kaupr
CZ: Binance's MiCA application was fully compliant — political forces intervened
Speaking to The Block on June 29, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao claimed the exchange's Greek MiCA application was on the verge of approval when unspecified political forces intervened. "There were two countries in the EU that wanted the Binance application — a bidding war of some kind. But unfortunately, there were other forces that were against it." He acknowledged speculation about ECB President Christine Lagarde's involvement but said he had seen no official evidence. Binance is now pursuing authorisation in France. (Source: CEO interview)
Why it matters: If CZ's account is accurate, a technically compliant application was killed by political considerations — introducing a layer of unpredictability that goes well beyond legal preparation. MiCA was supposed to create a level playing field.
Source: Binance founder CZ says MiCA application was 'fully compliant' and near approval before political forces intervened — The Block
Jack Mallers' Strike has received CASP authorisation from Malta's MFSA, making its European subsidiary fully licensed to offer Bitcoin and Lightning Network services across the entire EU. "Europe deserves a Bitcoin-only company focused on doing one thing well, not a multi-asset platform where Bitcoin is an afterthought," Mallers said. (Source: press release)
Why it matters: Strike's Lightning Network focus makes it a fundamentally different kind of licensed player to the multi-asset exchanges now competing for Binance's displaced users — and a signal that Bitcoin payments infrastructure is maturing in Europe.
Source: Strike secures full MiCA authorization for Europe — Crypto Briefing (Source: press release)
Germany leads MiCA licensing with 57 approvals — five EU states have issued none
Germany accounts for 57 of the 244 MiCA CASP licences issued across the EEA, with Trade Republic, N26, Commerzbank and Boerse Stuttgart Digital among its licensees. France and the Netherlands follow with 26 each. Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Romania have issued no licences at all.
Why it matters: MiCA promised a single market. What it delivered is a single rulebook applied by 30 regulators at 30 different speeds. Five countries have not produced a single licensed operator on day one — meaning users there can only access regulated crypto services via firms passported from elsewhere.
Source: Germany now Europe's "Crypto Valley," holding the most MiCA licences — Trending Topics
The stablecoin war just started — and it's not Tether vs Circle anymore
Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Google and 140 others launch OpenUSD to challenge Tether and Circle
Open Standard — led by Zach Abrams, co-founder of Stripe's Bridge — has announced OpenUSD (OUSD), a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by more than 140 companies including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Google, Coinbase, Ripple and Shopify. The token launches later in 2026 on Solana, Polygon, Stellar and Aptos. Unlike USDC and USDT, OUSD charges no fees to mint or redeem, and distributes nearly all reserve income to its partner network. Circle's stock fell between 8% and 13% on the news.
Why it matters: The revenue-sharing model gives 140 companies a direct financial incentive to push OUSD into their own products — a distribution advantage no single-issuer stablecoin can match. The question is not whether OUSD is a better stablecoin, but whether shared ownership of the settlement layer changes how stablecoins spread.
Source: Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock and over 140 others join forces against Tether and Circle — Kaupr
OpenUSD: the stablecoin alliance that could redefine global payments — an analysis
Tech evangelist and payments analyst Sharat Chandra argues that OpenUSD marks a shift from "issuing another stablecoin" to building shared programmable payment infrastructure — a convergence of Visa's USDC settlement expansion, Stripe's Bridge acquisition and Mastercard's always-on settlement capabilities. "We're no longer witnessing crypto entering mainstream finance," Chandra writes. "We're watching mainstream finance become increasingly blockchain-native." (Analysis / commentary)
Why it matters: Chandra reframes the competitive question: the next battle may not be USDC vs USDT, but consortium stablecoins vs tokenised bank deposits vs CBDCs — three fundamentally different models of digital money competing for the same infrastructure role.
Source: OpenUSD: The stablecoin alliance that could redefine global payments — Sharat Chandra, LinkedIn (Analysis / commentary)
Bitcoin finds its place in the portfolio — officially
BlackRock: a 1–2% Bitcoin allocation is reasonable for traditional portfolios
BlackRock's Investment Institute published "Sizing Bitcoin in Portfolios" on June 23, formally recommending a 1–2% Bitcoin allocation for traditional multi-asset portfolios. The note frames Bitcoin as a high-volatility diversifier — at 1–2%, its risk contribution is comparable to a single Magnificent Seven holding in a 60/40 portfolio. The guidance was distributed directly to wealth advisors across the US.
Why it matters: BlackRock manages $13.9 trillion and runs the world's largest Bitcoin ETF. When it sends a formal sizing framework to wealth advisors, it is not analysis — it is instruction. A 1–2% benchmark adopted across the wealth management industry would represent billions in incremental demand.
Source: BlackRock says 1–2% Bitcoin allocation is reasonable for traditional portfolios — NewsBTC via TradingView
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Wishing you a great Wednesday — and welcome back tomorrow morning for the next edition of Kaupr Today.
Best regards Morten Myrstad Founder & Editor