--- title: "MiCA license by country: authorised CASPs, transitional periods and supervisors" url: "https://www.unknowngravity.com/en/articulos/mica-license-by-country" site: Unknown Gravity published: "2026-10-02T21:24:04+00:00" modified: "2026-10-02T21:24:04+00:00" language: en-US description: "A MiCA license is the authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) that a Member State's supervisor grants under Article 63 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, and it lets the firm serve the…" section: "Home > Cryptocurrencies and tokens > MiCA license by country: authorised CASPs, transitional periods and supervisors" --- # MiCA license by country: authorised CASPs, transitional periods and supervisors **A MiCA license is the authorisation as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) that a Member State's supervisor grants under Article 63 of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, and it lets the firm serve the rest of the EU after notifying that supervisor (Article 65).** As of 30 September 2026, ESMA's register lists 359 entities: Germany (96), France (36), the Netherlands (28), Cyprus (24) and Malta (23) lead, and Spain has 15. The transitional periods under Article 143(3) are over across the EU: none could run beyond 1 July 2026. ## What CASP authorisation is and how the passport works Under Article 59(1) of MiCA, only two kinds of entity may provide crypto-asset services in the EU: those authorised as a [CASP](/en/glosario/casp-proveedor-servicios-criptoactivos) under Article 63, and certain already-regulated financial firms (banks, central securities depositories, investment firms, market operators, e-money institutions and fund managers) that notify their supervisor in advance (Article 60; banks at least 40 working days before starting). Tokenized securities are outside its scope: MiCA does not apply to crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments (Article 2(4)), as we explain in [MiCA vs MiFID II](/en/articulos/mica-vs-mifid-ii). Ten services require authorisation (Article 3(1)(16)): custody and administration on behalf of clients, operating a trading platform, exchanging crypto-assets for funds, exchanging them for other crypto-assets, executing orders, placing, receiving and transmitting orders, advice, portfolio management and transfer services on behalf of clients. The application goes to the competent authority of the home Member State (Article 62(1)). Among other things, it must include the programme of operations, proof of prudential safeguards, governance arrangements, the fitness of directors and qualifying shareholders, internal control and anti-money laundering procedures, technical documentation of the ICT systems and the procedure for segregating client assets (Article 62(2)). Minimum capital is the same across the EU: €50,000, €125,000 or €150,000 depending on the class of services (Annex IV), or one quarter of the previous year's fixed overheads if that is higher (Article 67(1)). The passport works like this: the CASP tells its supervisor which Member States it intends to serve, which services and from what date; the supervisor forwards this to the host states, ESMA and the EBA within 10 working days, and the CASP may start once it receives confirmation or, at the latest, on the 15th calendar day after its notification (Article 65). It needs no physical presence in the host state (Article 59(7)). ## CASPs by country, transitional period and supervisor We counted the entities on [ESMA's interim MiCA register](https://www.esma.europa.eu/esmas-activities/digital-finance-and-innovation/markets-crypto-assets-regulation-mica) (CASP file updated on 30 September 2026 and downloaded on 2 October 2026). It has 364 rows: we removed 2 withdrawn authorisations and 3 German entities listed twice, which leaves 359 entities with a current authorisation. The register covers both CASPs authorised under Article 63 and financial firms providing services after an Article 60 notification. The supervisor is the one named on the register or, where a country has no entities, the one on ESMA's list of competent authorities (Article 93). The transitional period is the one each state reported to ESMA. | Country | CASP supervisor | Entities on the register | Transitional period (Art. 143(3)) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Germany | BaFin | 96 | 12 months | | France | AMF | 36 | 18 months | | Netherlands | AFM | 28 | 6 months | | Cyprus | CySEC | 24 | 18 months | | Malta | MFSA | 23 | 18 months | | Spain | CNMV | 15 | 18 months | | Luxembourg | CSSF | 13 | 18 months | | Czechia | Czech National Bank (ČNB) | 12 | 18 months | | Ireland | Central Bank of Ireland | 12 | 12 months | | Liechtenstein (EEA) | FMA Liechtenstein | 12 | 18 months | | Austria | FMA Austria | 11 | 12 months | | Latvia | Latvijas Banka | 10 | 6 months | | Italy | CONSOB (consulting Banca d'Italia) | 9 | 18 months | | Denmark | Finanstilsynet | 7 | 18 months | | Croatia | HANFA and Croatian National Bank | 6 | 18 months | | Lithuania | Lietuvos bankas | 6 | 12 months | | Norway (EEA) | Finanstilsynet | 6 | 12 months | | Slovakia | National Bank of Slovakia | 6 | 12 months | | Bulgaria | Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) | 5 | 18 months | | Finland | FIN-FSA | 5 | 6 months | | Slovenia | ATVP | 5 | 6 months | | Greece | HCMC and Bank of Greece | 4 | 18 months | | Estonia | Finantsinspektsioon | 3 | 18 months | | Belgium | NBB and FSMA | 2 | 18 months | | Iceland (EEA) | Central Bank of Iceland | 1 | 18 months | | Portugal | Banco de Portugal and CMVM | 1 | 18 months | | Sweden | Finansinspektionen | 1 | 9 months | | Hungary | MNB | 0 | 6 months | | Poland | KNF | 0 | 6 months | | Romania | Not yet designated (ESMA list, 17 Feb 2026) | 0 | 18 months | Three things stand out. First, no transitional period remains open in the EU. Article 143(3) allowed firms to keep operating under national law until 1 July 2026 at the latest, and several states cut that to 12, 9 or 6 months. Some also required firms to apply for authorisation by a set date: Denmark (30 Dec 2024), Czechia (31 Jul 2025), Bulgaria (8 Oct 2025, for firms on its former register) and Italy (30 Dec 2025). ESMA notes that some periods were reported by supervisors and might not yet have been written into national law. Second, concentration is high: five states account for 207 of the 359 entities. Third, Hungary, Poland and Romania have none; on ESMA's list of competent authorities (updated 17 February 2026), Romania still had no designated authority. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are not EU members but appear on ESMA's lists as EEA states. ## How to choose a jurisdiction The substantive rules are the same everywhere: MiCA is a regulation, minimum capital does not change and the authorisation opens the same market. What changes is the supervisor. These are the criteria that can be checked against official sources. ### Timelines The legal clock is common to all (Article 63): 25 working days to check that the application is complete, 40 working days to decide once it is, and a single pause of up to 20 working days if the supervisor asks for more information. What slows the process down is an incomplete file. The CNMV and BaFin both refer to these deadlines rather than publishing an average processing time. BaFin gives applicants four weeks to supply missing documents, following ESMA's recommendation, and rejects the application if it is still incomplete. ### Language and procedure Each supervisor sets its own procedure. The CNMV publishes its authorisation manual in Spanish, requires filing through its electronic office and complements it with a Q&A document (15 December 2025). Before choosing, check on each supervisor's website which language it accepts for the application and supporting documents. ### Supervisory fees Fees are not harmonised. These are the ones we found published in each state's rules: - **Malta (MFSA):** an application fee of €10,000, €20,000 or €25,000 depending on the class of services, and an annual fee of €10,000, €25,000 or €50,000, plus €2,000 per service and 0.05% of transaction volume, capped at €250,000 for that component (regulation 6 of [L.N. 295 of 2024](https://legislation.mt/eli/ln/2024/295/eng)). - **Cyprus (CySEC):** an application fee per service, from €5,000 (exchange or transfer services) to €30,000 (trading platform), and an annual fee made up of a fixed amount per service plus a surcharge on crypto turnover above €500,000, with an overall cap of €500,000 ([Directive DI 73-2009-04 of 2024](https://www.cysec.gov.cy/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=f9291762-d5a0-4199-ba2e-34fe77ac49fd); the Greek text is the binding one). - **Germany (BaFin):** the fee is charged according to the time spent (item 32.1.2 of the annex to the FinDAGebV) and [is payable even if the application is withdrawn or refused](https://www.bafin.de/DE/unternehmen-maerkte/erlaubnis-registrierung/geschaefte-krypto/kryptowerte-dienstleistungen/kryptowerte-dienstleistungen_node.html). - **Spain (CNMV):** the manual names the applicant as liable for the fee under Law 16/2014 and requires non-residents to appoint a representative in Spain to pay it (Article 6 of that law). The consolidated text of Law 16/2014 published in the BOE does not yet set a specific amount for CASP authorisation. ### Local substance MiCA requires substance in the EU: an authorised CASP must have its registered office in a Member State where it carries out at least part of its services, its place of effective management in the Union and at least one director resident in the EU (Article 59(2)). The CNMV accepts co-working offices if the space suits the headcount, is separate from other companies and does not hinder supervision (question 1.6 of its Q&A). Serving EU clients from outside the EU is only possible at the client's own exclusive initiative: a firm that solicits clients in the EU, by any means, no longer qualifies (Article 61). ### Target market Because the passport opens the whole EU, the licensing country need not be the main market. On ESMA's register, 186 of the 344 entities based outside Spain list Spain among the states where they intend to provide services. What stays in the home state is the relationship with the supervisor: that is where extensions of services (Article 59(8)) and changes to the management body (Article 69) are handled. ## Spain in detail In Spain, the competent authority for CASPs is the CNMV; the Bank of Spain is responsible for issuers of asset-referenced and e-money tokens, according to ESMA's list of authorities. The Spanish transitional period lasted 18 months and ended on 1 July 2026, according to the [CNMV](https://www.cnmv.es/portal/mica/regulacion-criptoactivos?lang=en): since then, registration with the Bank of Spain as a virtual currency exchange or wallet custody provider is no longer enough to operate. We cover this in [the end of the CASP transitional regime in Spain](/en/articulos/mica-deadline-espana-2026). ESMA's register lists 15 entities with Spain as home state: BBVA, Openbank, Cecabank, Bit2Me (Bitcoinforme), Renta 4 Banco, Kutxabank, CaixaBank, DUE Network, Crossmint Europe, Criptan, Minos Global, Prosegur Crypto, Iqana Technologies, Fazil Crypto (Basque Pay) and Cryptopocket (Fintech Payments PSC). Six are banks, which can use the Article 60 notification, and ten of the fifteen entries are dated 2026. Three practical points from the CNMV. Its authorisation manual is mandatory and applications are filed through its electronic office. Once authorisation is granted, the firm must complete its corporate formalities before the CNMV reports it to ESMA and it can start operating (question 1.4). And, in the CNMV's view, only authorised firms may market crypto-asset services and attract clients, with no agents (question 2.4). The application requirements are in our guide to the [CASP license in Spain](/en/articulos/casp-license-spain-mica), and our [CASP license test](/en/test-casp) helps you check whether your activity needs one. ## How we work on CASP projects Unknown Gravity is not a law firm and does not handle license applications. We are the technical team that builds the infrastructure the application describes ([custody](/en/articulos/crypto-asset-custody), segregation of client assets, order records and KYC and anti-money laundering integration), working alongside the client's local legal counsel in whichever country it chooses. ## Official sources - [Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) on EUR-Lex](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32023R1114) - [ESMA: MiCA and the interim CASP register](https://www.esma.europa.eu/esmas-activities/digital-finance-and-innovation/markets-crypto-assets-regulation-mica) - [ESMA: transitional periods by Member State (Art. 143(3))](https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2024-12/List_of_MiCA_grandfathering_periods_art._143_3.pdf) - [ESMA: designated competent authorities (Art. 93)](https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2024-12/List_of_Competent_Authorities_notified_to_ESMA_under_MiCA.pdf) - [CNMV: MiCA, new crypto-asset regulation](https://www.cnmv.es/portal/mica/regulacion-criptoactivos?lang=en) - [CNMV: MiCA questions and answers, 15 December 2025 (in Spanish)](https://www.cnmv.es/docportal/Legislacion/FAQ/FAQ_MICA.pdf) *Framework verified as of 2 October 2026.* A CASP project in Europe? [Talk to us](/en/meeting).