MiCA deadline threatens access for millions of EU crypto users

On July 1, 2026, a temporary permission that has allowed unlicensed crypto firms to serve EU customers will expire. Only 194 companies held MiCA licences in May 2026, and roughly three-quarters of firms that were previously registered are expected to lose the right to operate after the deadline.

Obtaining a MiCA licence requires months of review by a national regulator. Firms that have not already secured approval are unlikely to be cleared before July 1. The EU markets watchdog, ESMA, has said companies should have prepared orderly shutdown or transfer plans in advance.

What happens to users will depend on the platform. Customers of exchanges that hold MiCA licences, or that operate through a licensed European arm, should see accounts continue with limited change. Platforms transferring customers to a licensed sister company are likely to request agreement to new terms and full identity re-verification to meet anti-money-laundering requirements.

Platforms without licences are expected to block new deposits if they have not already done so. Those platforms are likely to prompt users to withdraw funds to personal wallets or move assets to licensed exchanges before they stop serving EU customers.

French authorities have signalled strict enforcement. The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has ordered unlicensed providers to stop operating from July 1 and warned that continuing to serve EU customers without a licence can be a criminal offence under French law, with penalties up to two years in prison and a €30,000 fine. The AMF can place unlicensed providers on a public blacklist, issue public warnings, and seek court orders to block websites. AMF president Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani warned: “Companies still serving EU customers without a licence could be taken to court.”

MiCA was designed as a single-market regime under which one licence allows operation across all 27 EU member states. In practice, licences are issued by 27 separate national authorities that have been operating at different speeds and standards, and regulators have raised concerns about uneven approval practices.

The regulation has already reduced the number of active operators. In 2024 there were more than 3,000 registered crypto companies across Europe; by May 2026 only 194 held licences. Poland accounted for over 1,400 of the earlier registered firms, indicating that smaller and lightly regulated operators are particularly exposed.

Compliance costs for MiCA include legal work, capital requirements and additional compliance staff. Those costs favour banks, large exchanges and well-funded platforms, resulting in a smaller group of licensed players in the EU market.

The rules have affected the stablecoin market: several major exchanges removed a large non-compliant stablecoin from their European platforms, while compliant tokens such as USDC and EURC remained available. Some issuers that did not meet MiCA requirements have worked with compliant European partners instead.

In the days around July 1 regulators may publish warnings or blacklists, exchanges could announce transfers to licensed European arms, and some platforms may pause or end services in certain countries. Users can confirm a platform’s status by checking their national regulator’s register or the EU’s central list of licensed crypto firms, since an active app or website does not indicate legal permission to operate.