MiCA in Italy: rules, supervision and CASP licenses

Italy split MiCA supervision along familiar lines: Consob handles conduct and market-facing rules while Banca d'Italia covers prudential aspects. The EU regulation applies since 30 December 2024, with transitional arrangements for firms on the prior national register ending no later than mid-2026.

That prior regime was the OAM register (Organismo Agenti e Mediatori), which from 2022 required virtual-asset service providers to register before serving Italian customers — an AML measure, not a full licence.

OAM registration confirmed AML compliance and little else. CASP authorisation is a different instrument entirely: segregated custody of client assets, capital requirements, disclosure duties and complaints handling, enforced by supervisors with real powers.

For Italian users comparing providers, the question shifted from 'is it registered?' to 'what is it authorised to do, and by whom?' — answerable in the registers.

Check Consob's registers (consob.it) and ESMA's EU-wide CASP register. As elsewhere, authorisations are service-specific and entity-specific — note who you are contracting with.

EU-passported platforms may legally serve Italian customers on a home-state authorisation; the ESMA register is the place to confirm it.