Crypto License in the EU
One regime instead of 27
Until 2024 the EU crypto map was a patchwork: every country ran its own registration with its own scope, and expanding to a second market meant a second procedure. MiCA ended that. Since 30 December 2024 the union has a single licensing category for crypto business, the CASP authorization, issued by a national regulator and valid across all member states.
Scope is broad: exchanges, brokers, custodians, transfer services, trading platforms, and advisory models all fall under it if they work with EU clients. The mechanics of the authorization itself, from capital classes to the application file, are broken down on the MiCA CASP license page; this overview is about the choices around it.
What the license costs to hold
Entry capital depends on the service set: EUR 50,000 for advisory and order-handling models, EUR 125,000 for exchange and custody, EUR 150,000 for a trading platform. The recurring cost sits elsewhere: resident management, a compliance officer and MLRO on local payroll, annual audit, and IT tooling that satisfies DORA. When comparing member states, the salary market usually outweighs the difference in regulator fees.
Picking the member state
Every regulator issues the same authorization, so the shortlist is built on practice, not law:
- Lithuania for speed, English-language proceedings, and CENTROlink access to SEPA.
- Malta for teams converting a VFA license and for a regulator with long crypto history.
- Poland for the largest domestic market in the region, at the price of Polish-language proceedings.
- Czech Republic and Estonia for founders weighing what their old national registrations are still worth against a fresh MiCA filing.
- Germany, Ireland, and Luxembourg for institutional-grade setups with capital to match the review depth.
Passporting turns this into a one-time decision: after authorization you notify the home regulator of the target markets and operate across the union without host-state reviews or per-country fees.
EU authorization or a license elsewhere
Not every crypto business needs the EU. If your clients sit in Latin America or Asia, a national regime outside the union can be faster and cheaper to obtain, and our crypto licensing catalog compares those options country by country. The trade-off is reach: only CASP authorization opens the EU market, and payment or banking partners increasingly ask for it even from companies serving the union remotely.
Holders of pre-MiCA national registrations should start from the VASP license status page: EU transitional windows have closed, and the route back into the market runs through a fresh CASP filing.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes. CASP authorization under MiCA, issued by any member state regulator, is passported to all 27 EU countries. No other EU-wide crypto license exists.
It depends on where your clients are. CASP is the only way into the EU market and carries weight with banks; national regimes outside the EU are faster for non-EU client bases. Many groups end up holding both.
Lithuania has the strongest track record on speed, with English-language filings and a regulator used to crypto applications. Realistic end-to-end timelines across the EU run 6 to 12 months, driven mostly by the quality of the application.
No. One CASP authorization plus a passporting notification per target market covers the union. Host states do not run second reviews and do not charge their own licensing fees.
