Overview
- The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets rules took effect on July 1, 2026 and now require crypto firms to hold a national MiCA authorization to offer services inside the bloc.
- Binance withdrew its Greek MiCA application before the June 30 deadline and has paused regular services in several EU countries, telling affected users how to withdraw or transfer assets while saying customer funds remain safe.
- European regulators, led by ESMA, expect unlicensed providers to wind down active services and keep only functions needed to sell or transfer crypto holdings, with sanctions possible for noncompliance.
- MiCA‑compliant brokers such as Etoro and Bitpanda are actively recruiting customers leaving unlicensed platforms by offering up to about 5 percent transfer or cashback bonuses to attract asset migrations.
- Roughly 280 of more than 1,200 firms operating in Europe have obtained MiCA authorizations so far, a gap that is likely to cause short‑term disruption for users and reshape market access as pending applications are processed.