
Germany tops 57 MiCA crypto licences
- Germany has issued 57 MiCA crypto licences, leading the European Union's 244 authorised crypto firms ahead of the 1 July deadline.
- France accelerated approvals in late June, while five EU member states have yet to issue a single MiCA licence.
- Regulators expect approvals across Europe to increase as more applications move through the new licensing framework.
Germany has become the leading jurisdiction under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) after issuing 57 crypto-asset service provider licences, representing about 23% of the 244 approvals recorded across the European Union and European Economic Area before the 1 July transition deadline.
France ranked second with 26 authorised companies, alongside the Netherlands as one of the largest MiCA licensing hubs, highlighting uneven implementation despite the regulation's goal of creating a single European crypto market.
Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) said the country's higher number of approvals reflects its large financial sector and an existing national licensing regime that allowed some crypto firms to use simplified authorisation pathways under MiCA transition rules.
France recorded the largest late-June approval wave, issuing five crypto-asset service provider licences between 18 June and 22 June, while Malta approved two, and BaFin said future licensing levels will depend on market activity, innovation and the number of pending applications across member states.
BaFin said it expects approvals in other European countries to increase over time and more closely reflect the size of their financial sectors, while as the regulator is a government authority there was no share price reaction.
As of 26 June, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Romania had not issued any MiCA licences, with Poland's implementation delayed by legislative setbacks and reported presidential vetoes, while Binance had withdrawn its application in Greece.
Italy accounted for 160 of the 162 entries on the European Securities and Markets Authority's register of non-compliant crypto-asset service providers, while the Netherlands and Slovakia each recorded one entry linked to MEXC and LWEX, respectively.