MiCA Regulations Wipe Out Nearly All European Crypto Firms

The European Union's MiCA regulations have had a significant impact on the crypto market. As of July 1, about 90% of previously registered Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) are no longer operating in Europe.

This means that only around 200 VASPs remain, compared to the approximately 2,700 that were registered before the deadline. The European Securities and Markets Authority's register now lists just over 280 Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASP), which is a new category created by MiCA.

According to James Harris, CEO of Tesseract, running as a CASP is significantly harder than operating as a VASP, with compliance costs increasing by around 10-15 times. This has led many firms to either exit the market or not bother applying for CASP status in the first place.