Block’s Cash App withdraws bid for Irish virtual asset licence
Cash App has withdrawn its application for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) licence in Ireland, according to a report by the Irish Independent.
Cash App withdraws VASP licence application in Ireland
The peer-to-peer (P2P) platform had been in hot pursuit of a VASP licence in the country since 2021 in anticipation of a full commercial launch later down the line.
VASP licences in Ireland are issued by the country’s central bank and enable recipients to provide services relating to virtual assets and cryptocurrency.
Cash App, which is part of the US fintech group Block, enables users to send and receive funds in both fiat and cryptocurrency. Live in both the US and UK, the service sought to expand to the Irish market two years ago, and actively pursued the relevant licencing from Ireland’s central bank in order to deliver its services.
However, the Irish Independent reports that Cash App pulled its pending VASP application in May, while its filings with Ireland’s Companies Registration Office state that “there are no immediate plans to launch new products” through the company’s Irish outpost.
The company also previously engaged a select number of users in a limited pilot of its services in Ireland, but wrapped the programme up last August.
Around the same time, parent company Block announced that it was to shutter some of its European businesses in favour of “areas that have a higher potential return on investment”.
The cuts affected its payments app Verse, which left the European market on 13 September, and the buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Clearpay, although its closures were limited to Italy, France and Spain.
Cash App has not yet responded to FinTech Futures‘ request for comment.
