Europe's crypto industry has entered a new era. Since July 1, crypto service providers can no longer rely on national registrations alone. To operate across the European Union, businesses must now comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) - the EU's first comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto.
The impact is already becoming visible. Out of more than 3,000 registered crypto service providers across Europe, fewer than 250 currently hold a full MiCA licence. That means fewer than 10% of providers meet the new regulatory standard. As a result, analysts estimate that up to 80% of today's crypto businesses may not survive the transition.
MiCA therefore represents the biggest regulatory shift the industry has ever seen. Here's everything you need to know – and how to stay in the game.
MiCA: the what and why
MiCA introduces one harmonised regulatory framework for crypto-assets and crypto service providers across all 27 EU Member States. Until now, every country applied its own registration requirements and supervisory approach. MiCA replaces this fragmented landscape with one European rulebook, creating greater consistency and transparency, preventing abuse and fraud, and protecting consumers as the market has matured.
The new MiCA regulation applies to two main groups within the crypto industry. The first is crypto-assets, including stablecoins and utility tokens. The second is Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) - businesses that professionally provide crypto services to clients, such as crypto exchanges, brokers, custody and wallet providers and trading platforms.
In short, if your organisation professionally provides crypto services or acts as an intermediary in transactions involving crypto-assets within the European Union, there is a strong likelihood that MiCA applies to you.
Much more than just a bit of paperwork
MiCA is much more than a licensing requirement. Previously, many crypto companies only needed to register with their national regulator. While these requirements differed by country, they were generally far less extensive than the standards introduced under the EU-wide regulation.
Today, organisations must demonstrate that they have:
* robust governance structures;
* clear compliance processes;
* effective risk management frameworks;
* ICT and cybersecurity controls;
* outsourcing policies;
* complaint handling procedures;
* adequate capital requirements;
* ongoing reporting capabilities towards regulators.
In other words, while one of MiCA’s key advantages is that a licence obtained in one EU Member State can generally be passported across the entire European Union, obtaining that licence is no longer a matter of just completing administrative paperwork. It requires companies to demonstrate that they operate as mature, well-governed financial institutions, with compliance embedded across the entire organisation.
What we're seeing in the market
The increased regulatory burden is already reshaping the industry. At Supplied, we're seeing companies postpone or abandon licence applications because they underestimate the complexity of the process. Exchanges are removing stablecoins whose issuers no longer meet MiCA requirements, while other businesses are actively exploring mergers or acquisitions as the cost of achieving and maintaining compliance becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.
These developments are understandable, given the significant costs involved. The licence application itself typically requires a substantial investment in legal support, regulatory advice and documentation, often ranging from €80,000 to €200,000. However, the real investment lies in building and maintaining a fully compliant organisation. This includes implementing governance frameworks, hiring compliance personnel, strengthening ICT and cybersecurity capabilities, establishing internal controls, conducting audits and meeting regulatory capital requirements.
For an average crypto exchange or asset service provider, the total investment during the first year can range from €300,000 to €700,000, excluding product development and marketing. Even after obtaining a licence, organisations should expect ongoing annual compliance costs of approximately €150,000 to €250,000 to maintain their regulatory obligations.
No wonder analysts estimate that up to 80% of current providers may not survive this transition. Compliance is no longer just an administrative requirement - it has become a substantial and costly prerequisite for operating a crypto business in Europe.
Compliance shouldn't be the bottleneck of doing business
That is where Supplied comes in. Our platform focuses on the parts of MiCA compliance that create the greatest day-to-day operational burden: implementing KYC and AML processes, continuously monitoring compliance, and supporting regulatory reporting to the AFM and DNB.
Rather than treating compliance as a one-time licensing exercise, Supplied embeds these processes directly into a crypto business's operations. Identity verification, transaction monitoring, data orchestration, and regulatory reporting become continuous, automated workflows instead of manual, resource-intensive tasks.
New customers and businesses go through automated KYC and KYB checks covering document analysis, liveness and identity verification, business verification, UBO detection, and watchlist screening. At the same time, Supplied continuously synchronises with blockchain networks and exchange APIs to monitor and enrich transaction, wallet address, and counterparty data, while bringing customer, transaction, and tax residency data together in a single system. This eliminates fragmented spreadsheets and manual reconciliation between onboarding, monitoring, and reporting.
When reporting periods arise, for example for submissions to the AFM or DNB, the platform automatically transforms the collected data into audit-ready reports, including transaction data, wallet addresses, and fair market values mapped to official regulatory specifications. Reports can then be submitted and managed through the same workflow, including corrections and resubmissions. The same applies to multi-jurisdictional obligations across the EU, all managed within a single platform.
In practice, this level of automation can reduce compliance and reporting workloads by 70–90% and shorten onboarding times from weeks to just days. This approach also delivers a significant cost advantage. Instead of relying on consultants and compliance specialists charging hourly or project-based fees, or making substantial investments to build these capabilities in-house, crypto businesses gain access to a predictable enterprise subscription model powered by extensive automation. For a fixed recurring fee, they gain access to enterprise-grade KYC and AML infrastructure, ongoing compliance monitoring, and regulatory reporting.
It is important to note that KYC, AML, and ongoing compliance monitoring are only part of the broader MiCA licensing journey. Businesses must also ensure they meet the remaining regulatory requirements, either internally or with the support of specialist legal and financial advisors. These include preparing and submitting the licence application, meeting the required capital thresholds, establishing an appropriate governance structure, such as a qualified management or supervisory board, and implementing the wider risk management framework expected by regulators.
The Future of crypto in Europe
It is clear: MiCA will fundamentally reshape Europe's crypto market. While some providers will disappear, others will emerge stronger, more trusted, and ready to scale across the European market. The question is no longer whether MiCA will change the industry - it already has. The question is which businesses will successfully adapt and be ready for the next phase of Europe's crypto market.
