Crypto licensing regimes
Where a crypto business applies, what the regulator charges, how long the statute gives it, and how many firms hold the licence today.
4 regimes trackedchecked 08.10.2026
MiCA · CASP27 EU member states, plus the EEAMiCA replaced twenty-seven national crypto regimes with one. A firm authorised in any member state may serve clients in all of them without applying again, which is why the choice of home regulator became a business decision rather than a formality. The transition closed on 1 July 2026, and from that date serving EU clients without the authorisation breaks EU law.CAPITAL€50k+STATUTORY~65 daysISSUED36108.10.2026OpenVARA · DubaiDubai, UAE (not the DIFC)Dubai does not sell one crypto licence. VARA licenses eight separate activities, and a firm pays for each one it wants. Advisory costs AED 40,000 to apply; running an exchange costs AED 100,000, and the annual supervision fee behind it is five times the advisory one. Two names in the public register can mean two different things, and only one of them may serve clients.APPLICATION40–100kANNUAL80–200kREGISTER5708.10.2026OpenCASP via CySECCyprus, serving the whole EUCyprus files a MiCA application for ten thousand euros, the lowest of the jurisdictions worth comparing. The clock is written into the statute rather than left to the queue: twenty-five working days for the regulator to confirm the file is complete, forty more to decide. Twenty-five providers hold a Cypriot authorisation, and that licence serves clients across all twenty-seven member states.FEE€10,000STATUTORY65 daysISSUED2508.10.2026OpenDiia.City · UkraineUkraine, nationwideDiia.City is not a crypto licence, and treating it as one is the mistake worth avoiding. It is a tax and legal regime for technology companies, guaranteed by law for at least twenty-five years, which crypto teams in Ukraine use because the alternative does not exist yet: the bill that would regulate virtual assets passed its first reading in September 2025 and has not come back for a second.INCOME TAX5%PROFIT9%RESIDENTS4,68508.10.2026Open