Banca Sella Completes MiCA Approval, Becomes Italy's First Licensed Crypto Bank

Banca Sella completed its formal notification process with the Bank of Italy under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation on May 28, becoming the first Italian bank authorized to directly operate regulated digital asset services. The lender plans to launch an institutional-grade custody platform before the end of 2026, focused exclusively on corporate and institutional crypto transactions rather than retail trading.

Simultaneously, Banca Sella serves as a founding member of Qivalis, a consortium of 37 European banks developing a euro-denominated stablecoin infrastructure registered in the Netherlands. The bank will operate as both a compliant crypto custodian and an issuing node for the institutional stablecoin on public distributed ledgers.