MiCA: The First of July Draws a Line

On 1 July 2026 the transition period of the European Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ended, without extension. From that date, offering custody, exchange or trading of crypto-assets in the European Economic Area requires authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider. 204 platforms held that authorisation at the deadline. Everyone else loses legal access to the EU market, whatever their size elsewhere.

The analysis works through what the line means for three groups. For investors, the authorisation register becomes the first and simplest legitimacy check: a platform that solicits European customers without appearing in it has already answered the most important question. For banks and payment providers, the register reshapes risk assessment of crypto-related counterparties and transaction flows. For investigators, the perimeter creates addressable counterparts with European supervisory anchors, and it concentrates the unregulated remainder into a smaller, more visible space.

The piece also covers passporting, under which an authorisation in one member state carries across the EEA, and the supervision architecture taking shape around the new EU anti-money laundering authority AMLA in Frankfurt. A line on a calendar does not end evasion. It changes where evasion has to happen.