The EU’s anti-money-laundering watchdog is sounding the alarm as the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) transitional period ended on July 1, warning that a wave of customer migration from unlicensed to licensed platforms could strain compliance defenses across the sector.
Bruna Szego, chair of the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), told the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs that firms exiting the EU market should expect surges in withdrawal and transfer requests as users move assets off closing platforms. At the same time, licensed virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that pick up these customers may face onboarding bottlenecks that could tempt or force them to loosen anti-money-laundering (AML) safeguards.
Context and regulatory moves
- MiCA’s 18-month transitional period expired on July 1, meaning crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) must now hold EU authorization to operate in the bloc.
- ESMA instructed firms that remain unauthorized to begin winding down EU operations, prompting customer migration to approved providers.
- Ahead of the deadline, AMLA issued guidance laying out money-laundering risks tied to the transition and expectations for both exiting firms and licensed providers to preserve effective AML controls during the transfer of customers.
What AMLA will do next
Szego said AMLA plans to publish a sector-wide report before year-end that will assess money-laundering risks in crypto and survey how national supervisors are policing CASPs. The authority is also expanding its blockchain-analytics capabilities to bolster oversight. The forthcoming report will compare supervisory approaches across member states and flag gaps that may require coordinated follow-up with national regulators.
Follow-up supervision: ESMA’s coordinated review
The warning comes amid stepped-up post-licensing scrutiny. On July 11 ESMA launched a Common Supervisory Action targeting a sample of MiCA-authorized crypto custodians to test operational resilience in areas such as private-key management, transaction controls, incident response and dependence on third-party tech vendors. ESMA framed the review as a practical check — ensuring that firms’ operational safeguards actually work in practice, not just on paper.
Why it matters
Regulatory pressure and customer flows could create a crunch point for compliance teams: rapid onboarding increases transaction monitoring and KYC workloads, while mass withdrawals can complicate asset reconciliation. The EU’s twin approach — guidance and coordinated supervisory action — signals regulators will closely monitor whether licensed firms maintain AML integrity while swelling their user bases.
Bottom line: The MiCA transition marks the start of a new, more regulated phase for Europe’s crypto market. Regulators are already moving to ensure that authorization is matched by robust, real-world compliance and operational resilience as customers migrate across the ecosystem.
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