The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released the MiCA temporary register on June 26, with Germany ranking first in EU and European Economic Area (EEA) authorizations, having approved 57 crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), accounting for approximately 23% of the total 244 authorizations. Five EU member states — Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Romania — had zero authorizations as of June 26.
BaFin explains two reasons for Germany's lead
Germany's financial regulator BaFin provided two explanations to Cointelegraph:
First, Germany has a large number of credit institutions that can directly apply for crypto-asset service authorization under MiCA;
Second, the transitional rules of the German Securities Trading Act provide a simplified authorization pathway, allowing some service providers to expedite the approval process, while other jurisdictions may not have similar existing systems.
BaFin also warned that the final outcome will depend on market developments, innovation models, and the number of pending applications in each member state; BaFin stated it cannot predict whether Germany's leading position will persist and expects authorization numbers in other EU countries to increase over time, closely correlating with the size of each country's financial industry.
France records highest approvals in the period, five member states have zero authorizations
ESMA's temporary register shows that France approved 5 CASPs between June 18 and 22, 2026, ranking first among all jurisdictions in that period. The approved companies include Bpifrance Investissement, RCUBE Asset Management, Paymium, Leonod, and Meria. In the same week, Malta approved 2, with a total of 11 across the EEA.
As of June 26, the following five EU member states have zero authorizations in ESMA's temporary register:
Greece: Binance had applied for a Greek MiCA authorization but later withdrew and transferred its license application to another jurisdiction
Poland: MiCA implementation legislation was delayed due to three presidential vetoes, and no MiCA licensing framework had been established by the deadline (Cointelegraph previously reported)
Hungary, Portugal, Romania: ESMA's temporary register shows zero authorizations, with ESMA not providing detailed reasons
MiCA non-compliance register: 160 out of 162 entries from Italy
ESMA has separately listed a non-compliance register in addition to the list of approved CASPs. As of June 26, 2026, the non-compliance register contains 162 entries, of which 160 are from Italy, with one each from the Netherlands and Slovakia (involving MEXC and LWEX respectively).
Neither ESMA nor BaFin has provided public explanations regarding the composition of Italy's non-compliant entries; ESMA's temporary register also does not clarify whether these entries are in a transitional state still under review or represent operators with compliance gaps.
FAQ
As of when is the data in ESMA's MiCA temporary register, and how will it be updated?
ESMA released the temporary register on Friday, June 26, 2026, with data as of the same day. ESMA did not specify the exact timeline for future updates in this release; after MiCA officially takes effect on July 1, related authorization changes are expected to be gradually reflected in the register.
Why does Germany lead other EU member states in MiCA authorization numbers?
BaFin explained two main reasons to Cointelegraph: Germany has a large number of credit institutions that can directly apply for MiCA authorization, and the transitional rules of the German Securities Trading Act provide a simplified authorization path. BaFin also stated that it cannot predict whether this leading position will be maintained.
What is the reason Poland has not issued any MiCA authorizations so far?
According to previous reports by Cointelegraph, Poland's MiCA implementation legislation was delayed due to three presidential vetoes, and no MiCA licensing framework had been established by the July 1 deadline. Therefore, Poland has zero authorizations in ESMA's temporary register.
