Six months after the full enforcement of the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, authorities have authorized 53 crypto entities to operate across the 30-country European Economic Area. According to Patrick Hansen, Circle's Director of EU Strategy & Policy, the list comprises 14 licensed stablecoin issuers and 39 crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) from seven EU nations.
Major approved firms include Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, N26, Robinhood, Trade Republic, BBVA, and OKX, granting them passporting rights to offer services EU-wide without additional local approvals. Stablecoin issuers like Circle (USDC, EURC), Société Générale-Forge (EURCV, USDCV), and Membrane Finance (EURe, eUSD) dominate the list, with most tokens being euro-denominated alongside some USD and Czech koruna offerings.
Notably absent are industry giants Tether (USDT) and Binance. Tether's exclusion stems from unresolved transparency issues, including its failure to undergo an independent audit since 2017 despite repeated commitments. This has already triggered USDT delistings on platforms like Coinbase and Crypto.com in the EU. Binance faces regulatory hurdles across multiple jurisdictions, including investigations in France and license withdrawals in Germany, the Netherlands, and Cyprus, complicating its MiCA compliance.
Despite progress, no applications exist for asset-referenced tokens (ARTs), attributed by regulators to low market demand under current compliance burdens. Over 35 crypto firms have been flagged as non-compliant CASPs, with Italy's CONSOB leading enforcement actions. The next regulatory update is anticipated in September 2025.