🇪🇺 Crypto licence in the European Union

The regime

The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is the world's largest single crypto licensing regime: one CASP (crypto-asset service provider) authorisation from any member-state regulator passports across all 27 EU countries. Stablecoin (ART/EMT) rules applied from 30 June 2024; the full CASP regime from 30 December 2024. National grandfathering windows for pre-MiCA firms largely closed during 2025-26.

In practice firms pick one national competent authority as their EU seat — the Netherlands, Germany, Malta, Luxembourg, Ireland, France and Austria have been the busiest — and passport everywhere else. The country pages linked below cover each seat's regulator and process.

Requirements

• CASP authorisation from a national competent authority under MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114) — one licence covering exchange, custody, brokerage, transfer and advisory services.
• Minimum own funds: €50,000 (Class 1 — reception/transmission of orders, advice, transfers), €125,000 (Class 2 — adds custody and exchange against funds) or €150,000 (Class 3 — operating a trading platform).
• Substance in the chosen member state: a registered office, effective management in the EU and at least one EU-resident director.
• Safeguarding: segregation of client crypto-assets and client funds from the firm's own book, with a custody policy.
• AML/CTF: EU framework compliance including Travel Rule originator/beneficiary data under the Transfer of Funds Regulation.
• Operational resilience: governance, conflicts, complaints, outsourcing and ICT-risk (DORA) arrangements sized to the service classes sought.

Licensed firms

Early cross-border MiCA authorisations by EU seat:

• Bitvavo, MoonPay — Netherlands (AFM)
• Bitpanda, Boerse Stuttgart Digital, Crypto Finance — Germany (BaFin)
• OKX, Crypto.com, Gemini — Malta (MFSA)
• Coinbase — Luxembourg (CSSF)
• Kraken — Ireland (Central Bank of Ireland)
• Bybit — Austria (FMA)

Snapshot, not the register: verify current status against ESMA interim MiCA register before relying on it.

Does a MiCA licence cover all of Europe?

It covers the 27 EU member states via passporting. The UK, Switzerland and other non-EU European countries run their own regimes and need separate authorisation.

Which EU country is fastest for a MiCA licence?

Statutory review clocks are harmonised (roughly 40 working days once complete), but pre-application readiness reviews differ. Malta, the Netherlands and Austria produced many of the earliest authorisations; Germany and France run heavier prudential reviews.