MiCA Wipes Out 90% of Europe's Crypto Firms, Just 280 CASPs Survive

The European Commission is already looking at revisions, with the consultation period for what the industry calls MiCA 2 extended to September 30. Vyara Savova from the European Ethereum Institute sees consolidation forming around larger players. Bigger firms have compliance teams and legal budgets to absorb authorization costs. Smaller operators do not. Certain EU member states are pulling ahead as licensing hubs; others are falling behind. Poland, for example, has struggled because national legislation stalled, leaving firms stuck waiting for domestic rules to catch up with the EU-wide framework.

Ripple's recent MiCA authorization signals that major players are not walking away from the European market. The consolidation Savova described may be partly intentional: institutional investors want counterparties with audited processes and regulatory standing. A market of 2,700 loosely registered VASPs could not attract that capital. A tighter market of 280 licensed CASPs might.

That theory works only if enforcement catches up to the rules. Offshore platforms are not disappearing just because a deadline passed. European users can still access them. Compliant firms carry costs their unlicensed rivals do not. Harris's point about enforcement is concrete, not abstract. The 280 firms still standing have done the work. Whether regulators back them up is the next test.

ESMA's register listed 280 licensed CASPs as of early July.