Germany leads MiCA crypto authorization race as Europe's deadline looms
MiCA is creating an uneven crypto licensing landscape across Europe despite its goal of a single market. Germany leads with 57 authorized crypto-asset service providers, about 23% of the 244 licenses issued across EU and EEA jurisdictions. France has 26 approvals and has recently accelerated, issuing the most licenses in the June 18–22 period. The Netherlands also ranks near the top, making France and the Netherlands the second-largest licensing hubs behind Germany. The concentration in Germany, France, and the Netherlands shows that implementation remains fragmented ahead of the July 1 transitional deadline. Five EU states — Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and Romania — had issued no MiCA licenses by June 26. Poland remains stalled by delayed legislation, while Greece saw Binance withdraw an application. Italy dominates the non-compliant CASP register, indicating many firms are still operating without full MiCA compliance.
