MiCA rollout concentrates licenses in Germany and France as deadline looms
The EU’s new MiCA licensing regime is already shaping where crypto business will survive — and where it won’t. Bits.Media, citing the ESMA interim register, found that 244 MiCA crypto-asset service provider licenses had been issued as of June 29. Germany leads the pack with 57 licenses (about 23% of the total), and France follows with 26 (around 11%). Together those two countries account for more than one-third of all MiCA authorizations, underlining how approvals have clustered in the bloc’s largest financial centers.
Five member states had issued no licenses by June 29: Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Romania. Poland remains a particularly unusual case — it still lacks a full local licensing framework aligned with MiCA because its president has rejected the enabling law three times, Bits.Media reports.
What the register shows and why it matters
- The ESMA interim MiCA register is the EU’s main public tracker for authorized crypto firms, approved white papers and non-compliant entities. National regulators supply the data and the register is updated weekly, so newly granted local approvals may appear with a lag.
- MiCA’s transition period ends on July 1, 2026. After that date the regime becomes fully enforceable across the EU: any crypto-asset service provider operating without a MiCA license must wind down activities in an orderly manner and take steps to protect clients during that process.
- A single license from a national regulator can be passported to all 27 EU member states, giving authorized platforms pan-EU access — a key advantage in the new landscape.
Market impact: liquidity, product lists and market structure
The shift to enforcement is already changing platform behavior. Licensed firms gain a clear legal pathway, but unlicensed exchanges face restrictions that can reduce tradable assets and liquidity. Many platforms are pruning products, restricting access or migrating users to entities with approvals, which has drawn complaints from traders about narrower markets and thinner order books.
Competition for European users has intensified ahead of the deadline. Coinbase and OKX have been pitching themselves to EU customers, while Binance has announced plans to restrict several services in the region — saying users will still be able to access their assets while it seeks alternative authorization routes. Binance’s attempt to obtain approval in Greece failed to advance in time, illustrating how MiCA can split the market between licensed and unlicensed operators.
Why Germany, France and the Netherlands matter
The early concentration of licenses in Germany, France and the Netherlands is no accident. These countries host Europe’s largest financial markets and established regulatory and banking infrastructures, making them attractive hubs for firms seeking fast authorization and pan-EU passporting.
What’s next
As MiCA moves from transition to enforcement, where trading activity and liquidity end up will be shaped by which platforms secure licenses, which assets remain listed, and how national regulators continue to roll out approvals. The coming weeks will clarify whether license distribution diversifies across the bloc or remains concentrated in a handful of financial centers — a critical factor for traders, exchanges and the broader EU crypto ecosystem.
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