Bitwala operates under the MiCA authorisation of Lightspark Payments Europe AS, a regulated crypto infrastructure provider licensed by Finantsinspektsioon, the Estonian financial regulator. Lightspark holds a MiCA CASP licence for crypto services and a separate e-money licence for fiat and card services, both passported across 30 EEA countries. This is why the licence is registered in Lightspark's name rather than Bitwala's, the licensed entity and the product you use are separate, and it's the same setup used across the industry.
MiCA brings a few changes to your account:
- Sender and recipient details are now required on crypto transfers, in line with the EU Transfer of Funds Regulation (the "Travel Rule").
- Your Tax Identification Number is collected once at sign-up, as required under DAC8, the EU's tax reporting rule for crypto platforms.
- Passkey and Two-Factor Authentication are required to access EUR and USDC and to move crypto, under MiCA's strong customer authentication requirements.
None of this changes how quickly you can deposit, withdraw, or trade.