MiCA licenses: which crypto exchanges are authorized in the EU

What is a MiCA license

MiCA is the EU regulation on markets in crypto-assets (2023/1114). Since December 30, 2024, a firm in the EU that holds clients’ crypto, exchanges it for zlotys or euros, or operates an exchange must be authorized as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP). Informally, this authorization is called a “MiCA license.”

The authorization is issued by the regulator in the country where the firm is based, and ESMA, the European Securities and Markets Authority, collects the entries in a single register. An authorization from one country works like a passport: the firm notifies its regulator of the EU and EEA countries where it wants to operate and can then serve clients there without a separate license.

The register also includes banks, investment firms and other institutions that already hold a financial license and have only notified their crypto-asset services (Art. 60 MiCA). In the table below, we mark them as “notification.” An authorization covers specific services:

• a) custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients
• b) operation of a trading platform for crypto-assets
• c) exchange of crypto-assets for funds
• d) exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets
• e) execution of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients
• f) placing of crypto-assets
• g) reception and transmission of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients
• h) advice on crypto-assets
• i) portfolio management on crypto-assets
• j) transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients

MiCA in Poland: status as of November 8, 2026

MiCA is an EU regulation, so it applies directly in Poland. Each country, however, must designate a supervisor and set penalties by law. Poland has no such law. The Sejm passed the Crypto-Asset Market Act three times, under which the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) was to become the supervisor, and the President vetoed it three times: on December 1, 2025, and on February 12 and June 11, 2026. On September 4, 2026, the Sejm did not override the last veto, and on September 8 the President submitted his own bill to the Sejm. In October, the government announced a fourth version of the act.

In ESMA’s list of competent authorities, the KNF appears next to Poland, but with an asterisk: the authority has not yet been formally designated. There is not a single firm based in Poland in the ESMA register. Clients in Poland use firms that are authorized in another EU country and have notified Poland under passporting: according to the register, there are 185 such firms.

Transitional periods for firms that operated before MiCA ended across the EU no later than July 1, 2026 (Art. 143(3) MiCA). A firm without authorization may not offer crypto-asset services to clients in the EU. The exception is when a client approaches a non-EU firm on their own initiative (Art. 61 MiCA). The KNF also warns about firms operating without authorization on its public warnings list (opens in a new tab).

Sources: List of MiCA competent authorities (ESMA, updated Feb 17, 2026) (opens in a new tab) · Third veto of the crypto-asset act (rp.pl, Jun 11, 2026) (opens in a new tab) · Sejm does not override the veto, President’s new bill (GazetaPrawna.pl, Sep 8, 2026) (opens in a new tab) · Government’s fourth draft (Interia, 10.2026) (opens in a new tab) · MiCA Regulation 2023/1114 in Polish (EUR-Lex) (opens in a new tab)