Dubai braces for influx of European crypto founders ahead of MiCA deadline

European crypto founders are moving to Dubai at a rising pace. Irina Heaver, a lawyer at NeosLegal, said her firm now fields more than 120 inquiries per week from crypto entrepreneurs looking to set up in the UAE. Roughly half come from Europe, led by Spain, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK.

The trigger is the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, MiCA, which hits its transitional deadline on July 1, 2026. After that date, national registrations that previously allowed firms to operate across Europe become void. Out of nearly 3,000 crypto-asset service providers that were registered under national frameworks, only about 244 have secured full MiCA authorization so far. That is roughly 8% of the total. The process has proven difficult for many firms, as seen in the case of Hodli, which recently obtained Italy's first MiCA portfolio manager license.

Heaver said inquiries from experienced European founders have surged over the past 18 months as MiCA's stablecoin rules and CASP requirements became clearer. The stablecoin provisions have been a particular pain point. MiCA imposes strict reserve and redemption requirements on stablecoin issuers, along with caps on transaction volumes for non-euro-denominated stablecoins. Several major stablecoin projects have already restructured or limited their European operations.