MiCAR’s one-year anniversary coming up

Late December, the EU’s crypto-asset framework MiCAR will celebrate its first anniversary. In this blogpost we take a brief look back at how the implementation of this framework went. 

State of implementation 

Even though we’re coming up close to the anniversary, not all Member States have made adequate progress on the implementation of their MiCAR application procedures. 

Belgium is one notable Member State with a very slow progress. The proposal to implement MiCAR was only submitted to Parliament in October 2025. Only once this proposal has been enacted can the supervisory authorities begin setting up their application procedures. We will therefore likely be well after a year of MiCAR being applicable before an entity can even start its application process in Belgium. This is an unfortunate setback for the Belgian market, as it risks service providers moving to other jurisdictions that are already actively issuing authorizations or lagging behind their competitors on the EU market while waiting to receive their authorization in Belgium. 

The problem of a slow implementation also persists at the European level. Several of the technical standards and guidelines necessary to guide the compliance of entities under this framework were only finally published this year. Full compliance with this framework has, therefore, only recently become realistic. 

Transitioning into MiCAR 

MiCAR’s article 143(3) foresees an 18-month transitory period. This means that all entities already providing crypto-asset services before the date of application of MiCAR should obtain their MiCAR licenses by 1 July 2026. However, it also allows Member States to set a different transitory period. 

Several Member States have made use of this option. Transitory periods in the EU are now either 6, 9, 12 or 18 months. On top of that, some Member States have indicated a deadline by which the entity should have submitted its application in order to be able to make use of the transitory period. In those cases, there is therefore a dual deadline to consider. 

This results in a few practical concerns. Entities should first and foremost ensure their compliance with the transitory period – and potential submission deadlines – in their home Member State. However, when providing services in another Member State, they should also comply with the transitory period requirements in their host Member State(s). 

For instance, a Bulgarian company could use the 18-month transitory period in Bulgaria, provided that it has submitted its application before 8 October 2025. However, if this company wishes to provide its services in the Netherlands, there is now a problem since the Netherlands adopted a 6-month transitory period. Therefore, this company strictly speaking cannot provide services in the Netherlands without a MiCAR-license after 1 July 2025. Given that many Member States have implemented a shorter transitory period – between 6 and 12 months – this means that in essence most of the EU market is closed as of 31 December 2025 to companies in Member States with a longer 18-month transitory period that have not yet obtained their license. 

This puts such companies before a difficult choice: either temporarily suspend much of their cross-border activities until they have obtained their license, or continue with their cross-border services in non-compliance.

Even though this issue was already pointed out years ago, no real solution was provided. Entities were just encouraged to start their application process as early as possible. Given that some Member States were quite late with opening their application processes – or even have yet to open them – this was clearly not a satisfactory solution. It can only be hoped that regulators show leniency in this case, as it could result in serious disruptions for both businesses and consumers. 

Enforcement 

So far, enforcement of MiCAR has been limited. This should come as no surprise given the slow implementation of MiCAR and the disparity between Member States due to varying transitory periods. Right now, the focus should be on supporting market players in achieving compliance with this framework. 

Regulators are also still taking enforcement actions related to the previous framework: the registration duty for exchange service providers and custodian wallet providers under AML laws. These actions have sometimes been wrongly reported in the media as being MiCAR enforcement actions. However, so far, no real MiCAR enforcement actions have been reported. 

What is the market now? 

So far, 570 white papers for the issuance of crypto-assets have been submitted to national regulators. A substantial portion of those was submitted in Ireland, followed by countries such as Malta and Liechtenstein. Also the Netherlands and Germany seem quite popular. 

Asset-referenced tokens are not being a success story right now, with so far not a single issuer being registered. 

E-money tokens are faring better with 29 registrations. Here, the Netherlands, France and Malta are the three main destinations. However, it should be noted that in many cases a single issuer will have registered multiple e-money tokens. 

So far, there are 17 issuers of e-money tokens. In terms of crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), we’re looking at 94 registrations. Here the top three is composed of the Netherlands, Germany and France. 

It should be noted, however, that this is all still early stage and that some countries are benefiting from having an early start – such as the Netherlands. The Baltic countries – usually quite popular for fintech and crypto – were a bit slower with rolling out their application procedures, which may explain why they are currently lagging behind. While the framework should be applied in the same manner across the EU due to MiCAR being a regulation, forum shopping may still be a reality due to some regulators being more lenient than others and some Member States offering better tax incentives than others. It is therefore surprising to see more strict and higher taxed countries like the Netherlands, France and Germany in the lead right now, but it remains to be seen whether they can maintain that position in the coming year. 

Looking forward 

Only in 2026 will we really see MiCAR enter into full force, with all Member States accepting applications and the maximum transitory period of 18 months ending in the middle of the year. 

At that point, we will get a more complete picture of the real state of the crypto-market in the EU. At that point, we can also expect regulators to shift their focus to active enforcement of this framework. One point of attention here will be the concerns that certain regulators have about licenses issued by less stringent regulators. France, for one, has already said to consider blocking passporting from Malta as it is concerned about the standards of oversight there. If such action were to effectively be carried out, it could have serious consequences for the passporting regime – not only under MiCAR, but also under other EU financial frameworks such as PSD2. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. 

Consumers will be able to benefit from better regulated service providers in this field. Part of this includes stronger consumer protection measures, specifically tailored to the risks of the crypto-market. The issuers of crypto-assets must provide transparency to consumers. They must publish a white paper with clear, non-misleading information about the crypto-asset. All service providers in the market, including exchanges and brokers, must obtain EU authorization and ensure that consumers are informed about who they are dealing with. However, it should be noted that those consumer protection measures are only in addition to the EU’s harmonized consumer protection framework. This framework already provided the means for consumers to act against the misleading and unfair market practices that have become commonplace in some parts of this market. Also consumer-related claims dating from before the entry into force of MiCAR can, therefore, still be lodged now. 

Do you have further questions on MiCAR and crypto-assets? Feel free to contact niels.vandezande@timelex.eu.