Meanwhile, Germany is also attempting to abolish a tax break for long-term coin investments and is facing resistance, forcing the government to delay the plan. Germany is establishing itself as the leader in terms of new authorizations under the Old Continent’s now fully enforced Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. The Federal Republic is issuing more licenses in accordance with the current rules than any other EU member state, local crypto media revealed, citing official stats.

In the third quarter alone, 42 organizations received approvals, the BTC Echo website reported on Wednesday, quoting a new report from FinPlanet. That compares to a total of 72 across all of Europe, according to the survey, which was released by the digital-asset management consulting and compliance firm this week. Europe’s economic powerhouse and major cryptocurrency market accounted for more than half of all new authorizations in the region, the analysis shows.

Germany issues most MiCA licenses to banks

The latter was based on data sourced from Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). It’s worth noting that all but one of the newly licensed entities are banking institutions. Among them are a number of cooperative banks, remarked the crypto news outlet. Germany’s Deutsche Bank is in the group as well. The Frankfurt-headquartered banking and financial services giant obtained its regulatory approval under MiCA last month.

Out of a total of 100 companies registered as crypto service providers (CASPs), 65 are banks, according to FinPlanet’s CASP Radar report covering Q3 of 2026. German regulators authorized 58 institutions during the previous quarter. Another 120, licensed in other EU nations, will be able to operate in the Bundesrepublik, too. The EU’s MiCA regulation was passed by the European Parliament in April 2023 and formally adopted by the Council in mid-May of the same year.

The comprehensive framework for digital assets and operations officially entered into force on June 29, 2023, with its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. However, it took another three years for the law to enter into full effect as it was rolled out in several stages, including for stablecoins and other asset-backed tokens as well as CASPs in 2024. A transitional period allowing national governments in member states to transpose the legislation into domestic law and apply the pan-European rules ended on July 1, 2026.

Since that date, all providers of crypto-related services in the European Economic Area (EEA), including the non-EU states Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein, must hold a MiCA license. During the studied period, the number of licensed entities rose to 363; growth in new authorizations has slowed significantly, from 105 in the second quarter. Besides, not all are granted regulatory approvals, as was the recent case with Bitcoin.de, one of the oldest and largest coin trading platforms in Germany and Europe.

Earlier in October, BaFin rejected the MiCA application filed by its operator, futurum bank AG, part of Bitcoin Group SE. The future remains uncertain for the crypto marketplace, which serves more than 1 million users. Over the past years, crypto investors have enjoyed favorable treatment in Germany, including a tax break for gains from investments in digital assets held for more than a year. Indications that the federal government in Berlin intends to scrap the exemption for long-term cryptocurrency investments have been mounting this year.

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Monaco has filed Bill No. 1131, which would repeal the 2022 law that split crypto and digital-asset work into issuance and operational services cleared by the State Minister, and crypto-linked investment services authorized by the Commission de Contrôle des Activités Financières (CCAF). Under the 2022 law, providers were forced to register a company inside Monaco, and foreign firms were banned from cold-marketing to residents.

Monaco wants to join EU’s MiCA regime

The proposed change would require any firm wanting to offer crypto-asset services to gain clearance from the CCAF, but before that, the firm would have been reviewed by the Autorité Monégasque de Sécurité Financière and the Agence Monégasque de Sécurité Numérique. The bill lists exactly which crypto services are allowed in Monaco and sets clear rules for how companies must run their operations, manage risks, and behave professionally.

It also gives the CCAF more power to oversee and penalize firms, which the government says will help stop money laundering and other financial crimes. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs found that firms that have not been authorized by MiCA are far more likely to carry a high or severe risk rating. Monaco has sat on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list since the summer of 2024, and was added to the European Commission’s list of high-risk money-laundering jurisdictions more than a year ago.

The country’s alignment with MiCA is in the hope that it gets taken off these lists, as designations like this can result in slow international transactions, raised compliance costs and even increased borrowing costs for local businesses. However, only 281 of 1,343 crypto service providers operating across the European Economic Area have secured MiCA authorization.

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The company said its dollar-backed USDC and euro-backed EURC are the only two Circle-issued tokens approved under the new framework. 

As a result, most leading dollar-pegged stablecoins, including Tether’s USDT, are no longer available through regulated crypto platforms serving the European Union’s approximately 450 million residents.

Circle stated that both USDC and EURC remain fully redeemable in fiat currency, with reserves managed under regulatory standards and disclosed publicly. 

The company also released its latest reserve report on August 3. Under MiCA, issuers must separate reserve assets, provide regular attestations, guarantee redemption rights, and meet governance requirements before exchanges can legally offer their stablecoins to European customers.

Reserve requirements drove Tether from the EU market

The transition period for MiCA concluded on July 1, after which the European Securities and Markets Authority instructed unauthorized crypto firms to cease operations. It also reminded consumers that only licensed crypto-asset service providers could legally operate throughout the European Union and European Economic Area.

A major challenge for large stablecoin issuers is MiCA’s reserve requirement. Stablecoins classified as significant must hold at least 60% of their reserves in bank deposits within the European Union. USDT satisfies the quantitative conditions for that designation.

Rather than meeting those requirements, Tether withdrew from the regulated European market and discontinued its euro-backed stablecoin, EURT. The company stated, “After careful consideration, we have made the decision to discontinue support for EURT’s.” 

Tether added that the move reflected its strategic direction while regulatory frameworks continue evolving. 

Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino also argued that shifting reserves from short-term US Treasury assets into commercial bank deposits could weaken stablecoin resilience during financial stress. 

He said MiCA “poses a systemic risk to European banking stability” and explained that Tether preferred protecting existing users.

Trading activity remained resilient despite exchange delistings

Following MiCA implementation, Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and OKX removed USDT trading pairs for European users to comply with the regulation. 

However, research published in July 2026 by Nicola Borri of LUISS and Kirill Shakhnov of the University of Surrey found that overall stablecoin market shares changed very little. 

European USDC trading gained roughly six percentage points mainly because USDT trading volumes declined by around 20% after delistings rather than because of stronger demand.

DefiLlama data showed MiCA-compliant euro stablecoins approached $900 million in value during mid-2026. ESMA has approved 19 e-money token issuers across 11 member states, while policy analyst Patrick Hansen estimated about 35 regulated e-money tokens from 21 companies by late July. 

A consortium including BBVA, ING, and UniCredit also plans to introduce a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin, although dollar-backed stablecoins continue leading global crypto trading, payments, and liquidity.

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One of the world’s largest crypto payment platforms, BitPay, will be able to continue to operate in Europe, while several industry players are leaving the market. The US-based fintech announced its European subsidiary has obtained regulatory approval in accordance with the Union’s new rules for the sector, stating in a press release: “BitPay B.V. has been authorized as a crypto-asset service provider (CASP) under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).”

BitPay calls MiCA license a “significant growth point”

The company described the development as “a significant growth point” that will allow it to expand cryptocurrency and stablecoin payments in the member states of the 27-strong bloc. The licensing under the single framework will allow merchants to accept decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and fiat-pegged coins like Tether’s USDT, including in cross-border transactions. Consumers will have broader access to various tools for spending and managing crypto assets.

Quoted in the official announcement, BitPay’s Chief Compliance Officer for Europe, Thom de Jong, emphasized: “Receiving a MiCA authorization from the AFM is an important milestone for BitPay and strengthens our ability to serve businesses and consumers with regulated digital asset services across the EU.” De Jong also noted that the EU law, which recently went into full force, creates a unified framework for what he described as “responsible crypto innovation across Europe.”

“And this authorization adds a strong validation of our compliance-first approach for our customers,” added the regional manager. Founded in 2011, the Atlanta, Georgia-headquartered BitPay is one of the oldest businesses in the crypto space that pioneered blockchain payment processing. The company has offices in North America and Europe, and has raised over $70 million in funding from leading investment firms. Besides the latest regulatory nod from the Netherlands, it already holds money transmitter licenses and other approvals in a number of jurisdictions.

Europe hailed as important continent for the future of payments

The Old Continent “is one of the most important regions for the future of payments,” remarked Jonathan Arler, Head of Europe at BitPay. He added that the platform is now positioned to support retailers and consumers in the region from Amsterdam, amid growing demand for ways to spend and accept digital currencies. “BitPay will continue investing in its European operations, strategic partnerships, and regulated payment infrastructure,” the company vowed.

The main goal is to “make cryptocurrency more practical and accessible for businesses and consumers across the EU,” BitPay stressed on Thursday. A transitional period to allow crypto firms active in the European market to obtain proper authorization under MiCA expired on July 1, as reported by Cryptopolitan. Many businesses in the industry, including major ones such as Binance, the largest digital-asset exchange by daily trading volume, failed to secure a license on time.

Meanwhile, other prominent players in the sector, such as the rival U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, managed to obtain a European permit. On Wednesday, the Chair of the EU’s Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), Bruna Szego, issued a warning in that regard. According to the official, mass migration of users could overwhelm crypto services in Europe, with platforms leaving the EU facing client outflows while licensed providers may have to deal with a significant influx of new users.

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In addition, spot trading, margin trading, and other trading-related services have been disabled. On the other hand, Binance has assured customers that their funds remain safe and accessible despite the restrictions. The exchange previously served around 2 million users in France, making the country one of its largest European markets. Under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, all crypto companies operating in the bloc must obtain a license or face regulatory penalties. Weeks before the July 1 deadline, the exchange applied for a MiCA license from France’s financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF).

French users urged to withdraw or switch to other crypto platforms

According to the latest reports, the exchange has failed to secure the license, just days after it was also denied a license in Greece. In its official announcement, the exchange has assured French users that their crypto assets remain protected. It also suggested moving funds to a regulated platform or a personal wallet if they plan to continue using them. Some users pulled their crypto before the July 1 deadline, but some held out for updates. At the moment, withdrawals are still allowed, but users must transfer their funds to another platform to trade.

Binance has had to halt its services in other European countries, including Poland, Italy, and Spain. Similarly, it advised users to withdraw their holdings. However, Binance’s halt opened the door for compliant rivals, allowing platforms such as Coinbase and OKX to win over its customer base before the MiCA cutoff. Coinbase launched campaigns across key European nations, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Sweden, as OKX simultaneously marketed incentives to eligible customers within the European Economic Area.

At the same time, many crypto companies are setting their sights on Dubai, given that fewer than 244 of 3,000 firms have secured MiCA licenses in the EU bloc. Binance, nonetheless, remains committed to securing approval in the bloc. It remarked, “Europe remains an important market for Binance, and our commitment to a clear, fair, and harmonized MiCA framework is unchanged. We are confident we will secure a MiCA license in the coming months and will announce the relevant member state when ready.”

Binance continues to hang on amid legal tussles

For the past few years, Binance has been at the center of multiple controversies. The platform admitted guilt in 2023 to U.S. charges of breaking sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules, which prosecutors argued had turned the company into a worldwide laundering tool for bad actors. Authorities fined the company $4.3 billion, while Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a related charge and served 4 months in a California prison. He was pardoned by President Trump last November.

This year, US Justice and Treasury officials have also been probing how Iran utilized Binance to skirt sanctions. According to a Wall Street Journal report, billions of dollars in crypto transactions passed through the platform over the past two years to bankroll networks supporting Iran. Binance, however, has since pushed back against the claims, stating that it has zero tolerance for illegal activity and has built a top-tier compliance system. It has even taken legal action against the Journal for its reporting.

Meanwhile, over the past month, investors pulled more than $1.6 billion out of Binance. This included a single week where withdrawals hit $1.23 billion as users moved funds to private wallets, driving Ethereum outflows to a three-year high of 166,000 transactions. Despite this, the exchange still oversees roughly $114 billion in digital assets. Besides, the exchange has now included the Philippines in its fray. “The Philippines has always been one of the most vibrant crypto communities in the world. Let’s go!” said Binance co-CEO Richard Teng.

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According to the official press release, RLUSD now reaches retail and institutional users through SBI VC Trade. This makes it the second foreign dollar stablecoin Japan has ever cleared after USDC. It also carries a label no other token holds in the country, becoming Japan’s first “Type 4” electronic payment instrument, which is a category that the JFSA built specifically for regulated stablecoins. This is extremely crucial since there is now a defined legal home for RLUSD inside Japanese payment law instead of operating on regulatory tolerance.

Ripple goes live in Japan after clearing MiCA

According to reports, all RLUSD transactions will have a cap of ¥1 million, which is roughly $6,200. This is to make it easier to monitor and keep the early flows at a lower volume. The token also runs on Ethereum rather than the XRP Ledger. The first version of RLUSD in Japan lives on infrastructure Ripple doesn’t control. Just days before this news dropped, Ripple picked up preliminary MiCA approval in Luxembourg, a CASP license that sets up passporting across all 30 EEA countries once it’s finalized.

The pair of achievements means that RLUSD gains legal standing across Japan and most of Europe in the span of a week. Stablecoins spent most of the last ten years growing by avoiding regulators. Issuers parked reserves offshore, set up in light-touch jurisdictions, and handled enforcement only when it caught up with them. RLUSD went the other way. It got licensed inside the regimes that matter most, and Japan and the EU sit near the top of that list. This is the part that matters for adoption. A dollar stablecoin cleared by both the JFSA and MiCA isn’t a workaround built to dodge oversight.

It is a product that banks and regulated exchanges can hold without legal guesswork. SBI handling distribution in Japan puts it in front of an established financial player, not a crypto-native niche. The ¥1 million cap and the Ethereum rails show how carefully Japan is stepping into this, but the direction is locked in. For a sector that has spent years arguing it can operate inside the rules, two clearances this strict in one week are a harder data point to wave off than another offshore launch. The open question is usage. Clearing the regulators was the hard part on paper. Whether RLUSD actually moves volume across both regions is the test that hasn’t run yet.

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The executive power in Berlin has approved a new requirement for cryptocurrency firms to collect and file user info with the tax authority in Germany. The data will be submitted annually to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) and automatically exchanged with similar bodies in other countries. The new tax reporting obligation was announced by the Ministry of Finance, the leading German crypto news outlet BTC Echo unveiled on Thursday.

Germany issues new crypto-related tax directive to crypto platforms

In a post on X the previous day, the department indicated the goal was to increase the transparency of tax-relevant transactions involving digital assets. The immediate effect for crypto users in Germany will be that the state will no longer rely solely on tax returns to learn about their activities, but also on reports from regulated market participants.

The decision made by Germany is part of a comprehensive package of measures meant to improve and expand the exchange of tax information to cover digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It will apply not only to transactions through crypto exchanges and service providers but also to other fintech platforms and financial accounts as well. All of them will be required to report clients’ revenues to the tax authority in Germany, which will then share the data with counterpart agencies in other EU member states.

In turn, it will receive intelligence on German income generated abroad. The finance ministry also noted that a new supplementary agreement will enable this kind of exchange with relevant authorities in countries outside the European Union. The update in the tax reporting rules will further increase the regulatory pressure on the blockchain industry in the Bundesrepublik, BTC Echo remarked in its article.

Following the implementation of European regulations such as the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) law and the DAC8 directive, which entered into force this year, officials are now shifting focus toward tracing digital currency flows. Licensed crypto service providers will now have to properly prepare for the additional reporting procedures, while clients can expect their transactions to become much more visible to tax authorities. On a positive note, a tax benefit for cryptocurrency owners recently survived an attempt to remove it in the German parliament, as reported by Cryptopolitan earlier in May.

A bill put forward by the Green party, which is targeting a tax exemption for long-term digital-asset investments, was rejected by other factions in the Bundestag. Capital gains from the selling of cryptocurrencies more than a year after purchase are tax-free in Germany, and the proposal sought to abolish the “holding period” rule. The future of this particular tax relief remains uncertain, however, as political support for its removal is growing in Berlin.

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However, critics are saying that the legislation goes beyond European requirements, drumming up controversy within the crypto community and in Polish politics. The regulation, which has been in the works for a while, aims to impose order in the crypto space in Poland, which is seen as one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe.

Poland passes crypto law amid concerns over excessive regulations

The newly approved crypto law has been criticized for attempting to overregulate the nation’s crypto industry, stifling innovation and threatening to kill the business of domestic firms that work with digital assets. On Friday, 230 members of the chamber voted in favor of the bill, another 196 rejected it, with no abstentions. The Crypto Assets Act will now go to the Senate, the upper house of parliament in Poland.

The government-sponsored law should ensure protection for customers and other market participants from what has been described as “dishonest entities,” the Polish PAP news agency reported. It introduces criminal liability for certain violations, such as the provision of crypto services and the issuance of digital tokens without authorization, and defines the obligations of approved platforms.

The law also mentioned that the Financial Supervision Authority in Poland will be tasked with supervision of the sector, as the body will be equipped with the needed resources to conduct its activities. The KNF will be responsible for registering violations of the new rules and fraudulent activities involving operations with cryptocurrencies. Perpetrators of the most serious offences will face harsh penalties, including fines of up to 10 million Polish złoty ($120,000) and even imprisonment for up to two years.

However, the long-awaited legislation was not accepted well by members of the country’s crypto community and the parliamentary opposition, who criticized it throughout its review in the Sejm. While transposing MiCA into national law “sounds innocent,” the crypto act is a “real horror” for crypto entrepreneurs, the crypto news outlet Bitcoin.pl wrote in an article on Saturday.

Highlighting some of the powers granted to Poland’s financial regulator, which confused the industry on the weekend, the Polish portal commented: “The crypto assets law gives the KNF permissions that resemble a repression apparatus rather than market supervision.” They come with “fees, which can simply finish smaller companies, and the “clear guidelines” are just restrictions and costly requirements that will suffocate innovation.

The website also said, “This law can deal a fatal blow to domestic companies operating in the crypto sector.” Meanwhile, the exodus of crypto exchanges from Poland may soon start as firms have started hinting at leaving. For example, XTB, one of the largest crypto exchanges in Poland, has signaled that it may seek a license in Poland. In addition, Jakub Bartoszek, the president of Cashify, noted that the Polish implementation of MiCA is one of the most extensive, imposing high entry costs and increasing barriers.

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In its updated statement, Google says it is trying to clarify things for its users. “Non-custodial wallets are not in scope of Google Play’s Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Software Wallets Policy. We are updating the Help Center to make this clear,” the company said.

Google makes a U-turn on non-custodial wallet ban

In an earlier notice, Google stated that the new Play Store requirements required wallet developers to obtain official financial services licenses before their apps could be published. The regulation was expected to cover 15 jurisdictions, such as the U.S. and the EU, but did not distinguish between custodial and non-custodial wallets, which raised concerns among developers and lawyers.

In the United States, the policy would have required registration with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a Money Services Business (MSB) and a state permit for money transmitters. Such precautions are common in the custodial services space, but are not legally obligatory for non-custodial wallets under the FinCEN rule in 2019.

Consensys attorney Bill Hughes voiced his disappointment over the lack of clarity in the policy. He explained that Google informed them of the update on July 10, without defining what constitutes a “software wallet.” Hughes also noted that MSB registration is not something the FinCEN has expressly and explicitly required, and that the rule would thus be an unusual turnaround compared to existing United States regulatory policy.

He also referred to Google’s general policy that cryptocurrency-related activities are supposed to be performed by certified services in regulated jurisdictions. However, certification is not necessarily legally required. Hughes said the policy is “a bit of a mess,” and cautioned that Big Tech platforms, rather than government agencies, could potentially be the biggest gatekeepers in crypto application distribution.

Reversal shows influence from the crypto industry

Meanwhile, in the European Union, the original Google policy would have seen wallet developers obtain a mandatory Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. The policy would have prohibited many independent developers who do not enjoy CASP from listing their apps, since they are not custodial wallets. The proposal is also similar to aspects of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) ideas to extend scrutiny on virtual asset service providers.

The move by Google to withdraw non-custodial wallets due to the licensing requirement is a result of increasing opposition among legal experts, cryptocurrency advocacy organizations, and industry leaders. Justin Slaughter, the regulatory affairs vice president of Paradigm, had condemned the move as being too limiting, particularly as Google battles antitrust litigation.

He termed it “surprising” that the company would enforce these rules at this time, labeling them as “draconian limitations” to developers of non-custodial wallets. Slaughter cited pending congressional proposals that declare that “pure coding should not require a federal license,” implying that the policy may be incompatible with the prospective congressional guide.

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Although Turkey allows users to trade, own, and mine Digital assets, using the assets for payments has been outlawed since 2021. The Central Bank of Turkey also forbade the issuance of electronic money due to risks associated with stability and security. The leading attorney of the law firm Sima Baktas noted that using crypto will help the country’s financial sector, making payments effective and improving the country as an ideal location for Blockchain businesses.

Baktas mentioned that the lawsuit can lead to implications for the regulatory policies to work out the relationship between compliance and innovation, with a favorable verdict opening up the likelihood of better follow-up laws. “If the court rules in favor of lifting the ban, it could establish a more secure and dynamic environment for companies to operate while accelerating the digital economy’s growth,” Baktaş said.

Turkish firm fights for crypto payments amid developments

Turkey has taken several measures towards regulating crypto, initiating new laws to increase transparency and security. The measures ensure legal regulations while responding to the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

In December 2024, the country announced new anti-money laundering (AML) laws to govern Turkish nationals in the crypto space. A part of these regulations stated that users dealing in transactions of 15,000 Turkish lira ($425) or more must be identified. The Official Gazette of the Republic of Turkey shared the rules, which aim at preventing unlawful use of virtual assets.

The measures are in line with the best practices of international regulatory organizations like the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) adopted by the European Union. Through stricter supervision, Turkey is seeking to be removed from the FATF list of countries with insufficient AML measures, labeled as the “gray list”.

While the ban that was initiated in 2021 remains, crypto service providers in the country are being held to higher standards and obligations. These include collecting and reporting on transactions that hit or surpass the set threshold. However, the country has certain limitations that apply to small purchases.

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