France’s top finance sector regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), said that almost a third of digital asset companies without an EU license in the country still have not told the regulator whether they intend to get the license required under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
The landmark regulatory framework fully came into force on December 30, 2024, and requires crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) operating in the EU to apply for a license and obtain authorization from the national competent authority (NCA)—the country’s relevant regulator—where their operations are based.
Under a transitional regime CASPs operating in the EU could continue to operate while they apply for MiCA authorization for up to 18 months after the December 30 implementation date or until their MiCA license is granted or refused, whichever is sooner.
In other words, firms that fail to apply for a license by July 1, 2026, or fail in their application, will have to immediately cease operating across the 27-nation bloc.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)—the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor—said in December it expects digital asset companies without MiCA authorization to have either implemented “orderly wind-down plans” or have such plans in place by the end of the transition period.
Despite the deadline rapidly approaching, Stephane Pontoizeau, executive director of the market intermediaries and market infrastructures supervision directorate at the AMF, reportedly told journalists in Paris that there are about 90 registered digital asset companies in France that remain unlicensed, with 30% having already applied for a license and 40% not seeking one.
According to a January 14 Reuters report, the regulator said it wrote to companies in November to remind them that the country’s transition period ends on June 30 this year, but that 30% had not told the regulator their plans or responded to the letter; Pontoizeau told journalists that he was concerned by this group.
This comes amid broader concerns voiced by various EU regulators and lawmakers that some nations in the bloc have been approving licenses with greater speed, and possibly less rigor, than others.
EU license controversy
Due to the MiCA regulation’s ‘passporting’ feature, a CASP license issued by any member state’s regulator allows the licensee to operate throughout the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes all countries in the 27-nation bloc, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.
However, certain national regulators have conspicuously handed out more licenses than others, leading to concerns being voiced about the consistency, or lack thereof, with which different member states are enforcing the MiCA rules, notably smaller and therefore less well-resourced states.
One example is Malta, whose regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), was the source of negative headlines in June when it was reported that a “senior regulatory official” within the EU had questioned how one of the smallest countries in the EU could approve so many licenses so quickly, whilst maintaining all due diligence.
ESMA subsequently conducted a ‘Peer Review Report’ into Malta’s processes, published July 10, which confirmed these fears, stating that “the overall authorisation process should have been more thorough and conducted on a sufficient time to allow MFSA to properly assess compliance against the MiCA framework.”
This may have contributed to ESMA, in October, seeking primary authority over the bloc’s digital asset sector, to better standardize implementation of MiCA.
During the development of the MiCA regulation, the EU initially proposed making ESMA the primary supervisor of CASPs; however, the EU regulator’s ability to handle this task was questioned, and ultimately, the responsibility was delegated to NCAs.
In an October interview with the Financial Times, Verena Ross, chair of ESMA, revealed that the European Commission—the executive branch of the EU—was developing plans to bring several sectors, including digital assets, stock exchanges, and clearing houses, under ESMA’s supervision and away from individual state regulators.
Ross said this would lead to “a capital market in Europe that is more integrated and globally competitive,” adding that it would “ensure that we are addressing the continued fragmentation in markets and resolve that to create more of a single market for capital in Europe.”
Ultimately, this idea has yet to be followed through on and authorizing responsibility remains for the time being with the NCAs of individual EU nations. At this point, it seems likely this will stay the case up to the July deadline for CASPs to obtain licenses or wind up their EU operations.
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Source: https://coingeek.com/france-a-third-of-crypto-firms-unresponsive-before-eu-deadline/
