Custody, exchange and transfer services dominate MiCA licensing, while only 19 firms in the whole EU are authorised to operate a crypto trading platform. ESMA register data also reveals a market split down the middle between full-EEA passporting and purely domestic strategies.
Published: July 2026 · Data as of 16 July 2026 · Reading time: ~8 minutes
Key Takeaways
- Custody and administration (65%), transfer services (60%) and crypto-to-fiat exchange (51%) are the most commonly authorised MiCA services among the 294 licensed CASPs.
- Only 6.5% of CASPs (19 firms) hold the authorisation to operate a trading platform — the service with the heaviest regulatory requirements.
- The average CASP is licensed for 3.3 of the ten MiCA services; just 7 firms hold eight or more.
- Passporting is bimodal: 118 CASPs (40%) notified services in 29+ EEA countries, while 113 (38%) cover no more than one country — Europe has pan-EU platforms and local specialists, and little in between.
- Advisory (12%) and portfolio management (15%) remain niche, signalling that crypto wealth management is still in its infancy.
Ten Services, Ten Very Different Markets
MiCA defines ten crypto-asset services (Article 3(1)(16), letters a–j). A CASP's licence lists exactly which of them it may provide — and the aggregate pattern across all 294 authorisations is a detailed X-ray of the European crypto business model.
| MiCA service | CASPs authorised | Share |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Custody and administration | 191 | 65% |
| (j) Transfer services | 175 | 60% |
| (c) Exchange of crypto-assets for funds | 151 | 51% |
| (e) Execution of orders | 134 | 46% |
| (d) Exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets | 129 | 44% |
| (g) Reception and transmission of orders | 67 | 23% |
| (i) Portfolio management | 43 | 15% |
| (h) Advice on crypto-assets | 35 | 12% |
| (f) Placing of crypto-assets | 34 | 12% |
| (b) Operation of a trading platform | 19 | 6.5% |
The Infrastructure Layer Is the Market
The dominance of custody (65%) and transfers (60%) confirms that Europe's regulated crypto industry is, first and foremost, an infrastructure business. Holding client assets safely and moving them between wallets are the services nearly every business model requires — whether the firm is an exchange, a broker or a bank entering the space.
The classic retail exchange stack — fiat on-ramp (c), crypto-to-crypto trading (d) and order execution (e) — clusters in the 44–51% range. These three services typically travel together in licence applications, forming the standard "exchange package".
Trading Platforms: Europe's Most Exclusive Licence
At the other extreme, only 19 CASPs across the entire EEA are authorised to operate a multilateral trading platform for crypto-assets — MiCA's equivalent of running an exchange venue rather than brokering access to one. The rarity is no accident: platform operators face the regulation's most demanding operational requirements, including market-abuse surveillance, transparent order books and operational resilience obligations.
This scarcity has strategic consequences. Most "exchanges" familiar to European retail users are, in MiCA terms, brokers executing orders against liquidity sourced elsewhere. Venue operation — and the market data and listing power that come with it — is concentrated in fewer than twenty hands.
How Many Services Does a Typical CASP Hold?
The average authorisation covers 3.3 services, but the distribution is wide. Fifty-six firms hold a single service — typically custody-only or transfer-only specialists, including several banks that entered narrowly. At the top end, only 7 firms hold eight or more of the ten services, the closest thing MiCA has to "universal crypto firms". (18 register entries list no service detail in the current CSV extract.)
Passporting: Two Europes in One Register
Each CASP entry also records the EEA countries covered by its passport notifications. The pattern is strikingly bimodal.
- 118 CASPs (40%) cover 29 or more EEA countries — effectively the full single market of ~450 million consumers.
- 113 CASPs (38%) list one country or none — purely domestic operators, including many of the newly converted local exchanges and bank entrants.
- Only 63 firms sit in the middle ground of 2–28 countries.
The median CASP covers just 8 countries, but the mean (14.7) is pulled up by the full-EEA cohort. The economics are intuitive: once a firm has built MiCA-grade compliance, notifying the full EEA costs little extra — so firms either stay local by choice (bank subsidiaries, single-market exchanges) or go all the way. The half-measures are rare.
What the Service Mix Says About What Comes Next
1. Consolidation pressure on single-service custodians. With custody authorised in 191 firms, differentiation will come from adjacent services — staking-related offerings, transfers, settlement — not custody alone. 2. Advisory and portfolio management are the white space. At 12–15% penetration, regulated crypto wealth management is the least crowded licensed activity, an obvious target as institutional and private-bank demand matures. 3. Watch the 19 platform operators. As tokenised instruments and MiCA-regulated venues converge, the small club of licensed trading platforms holds outsized strategic value — for acquirers as much as for users.
Frequently Asked Questions
What services can a MiCA-licensed CASP provide? Only those listed in its authorisation, drawn from the ten services defined in MiCA Article 3(1)(16)(a)–(j): custody, trading-platform operation, crypto-fiat exchange, crypto-crypto exchange, execution, placing, reception/transmission of orders, advice, portfolio management and transfer services.
What is the most common MiCA authorisation? Custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients — held by 65% of all authorised CASPs.
How many crypto trading platforms are licensed in the EU? As of 16 July 2026, 19 CASPs are authorised to operate a trading platform for crypto-assets.
Can a CASP licensed in one EU country operate in all others? Yes — after notifying host Member States through the passporting procedure. In practice, 118 of 294 CASPs have notified 29 or more EEA countries, while 113 remain effectively domestic.
Sources
- ESMA — Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), interim register
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) — EUR-Lex
- European Commission — Crypto-assets framework
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Analysis based on ESMA's interim MiCA register (CASP file), 16 July 2026 snapshot. Service percentages are calculated over 294 unique entities; passport-coverage counts are unique country codes in each entity's service-country notification field.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for general information and analytical purposes only. It does not constitute legal, regulatory, investment, tax or any other form of professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. While we strive for accuracy, the underlying registers are updated frequently and figures may have changed since the stated data date. Always verify current information directly with official sources (ESMA, the European Commission, and national competent authorities) before making any decision. MICA Watch accepts no liability for any loss or damage arising from the use of this content.