Malta’s MiCA licensing comes under scrutiny from EU regulator

Malta’s cryptocurrency licensing process has travel nether scrutiny from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), Europe’s superior supervisory assemblage overseeing the Markets successful Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

The ESMA connected Thursday released a reappraisal connected the authorization process of crypto plus work providers (CASPs) by Malta’s Financial Services Authority (MFSA), highlighting respective shortfalls and proposing a acceptable of recommendations.

Despite saying the MFSA met definite expectations successful supervisory setup and staffing, the EU watchdog said the Maltese authorities lone “partially met expectations” successful the authorization process for an unnamed CASP.

Following the review, the ESMA’s advertisement hoc Peer Review Committee (PRC) recommended that MFSA “assess worldly issues that either were inactive pending astatine the day of the authorization oregon that person not been adequately considered astatine the authorization stage.”

Malta reappraisal launched successful April

The report comes implicit a twelvemonth aft the MiCA model came into unit connected June 29, 2024, becoming a large milestone successful the EU’s attack to regulating integer assets.

Since MiCA is aimed astatine providing a unified and accordant ineligible framework for crypto successful the EU, the regulator highlighted that MiCA’s authorization attack applies to each National Competent Authorities (NCAs).

In December 2024, the European Banking Authority’s Board of Supervisors (BoS), the agency’s main decision-making body, agreed connected the adoption of a coordinated attack for CASPs authorizations.

“Following a bid of events, the BoS of ESMA decided, successful April 2025, to motorboat a adjacent reappraisal connected the authorization and aboriginal supervision of a CASP by the Malta Financial Services Authority,” the study noted, adding:

“Although the adjacent reappraisal targeted 1 NCA, still, it aims to foster supervisory convergence and amended the supervisory practices of each NCAs, astatine a clip erstwhile consistency crossed NCAs successful authorization and mounting supervisory expectations is key.”

MFSA’s authorization falls abbreviated of expectations

The ESMA’s PRC, the committee that conducted the adjacent reappraisal process into MFSA, reported that MFSA has built a “good level of expertise successful this assemblage and has capable supervisory resources for CASP authorizations and supervision.”

PRC’s reappraisal acrophobic 3 main areas: the supervisory settings and resources, the authorization process and the supervisory reappraisal and usage of capable powers.

While afloat gathering the supervisory settings requirements and mostly gathering the supervisory reappraisal rules, the study said the MFSA has lone “partially met expectations” applicable to the “authorization of the circumstantial CASP.”

A ocular summary of the PRC’s appraisal of the MFSA by appraisal area. Source: ESMA

Malta’s MFSA “needs to show intimately the maturation successful authorization applications” and place and request to set supervisory practices successful a timely manner, the PRC stated.

Related: Bybit, OKX grow crypto services successful Europe nether MiCA

It reiterated that each the EU authorities NCAs person to see this contented and strictly travel the standards:

“Due to the novelty and quality of these benignant of entities arsenic good arsenic the inherent risks of their concern model, the PRC recommends to each NCAs, presently successful the process of authorising CASPs, to wage peculiar attraction to definite aspects of the authorization.”

Four MiCA CASPs licensed by MFSA

Since the ESMA did not disclose the sanction of the CASP successful question of the MFSA’s authorization misstep, it’s unclear whether the PRC’s proposal to measure the contented would interaction immoderate of the issued licenses.

“It is hard to remark without knowing precisely what the unresolved issues were,” XReg Consulting spouse Nathan Catania told Cointelegraph.

“I wouldn’t expect immoderate revocation oregon re-evaluation based connected the report,” helium stated.

According to the MFSA registry of licensed CASPs operating nether MiCA, determination are presently 4 registered companies: BP23, trading arsenic Bitpanda; Foris Dax, trading arsenic Crypto.com; Okcoin Europe, trading arsenic OKX; and Zillion Bits, trading arsenic ZBX.

MFSA’s CASP registry shows 4 CASPs authorized nether MiCA arsenic of July 10, 2025. Source: MFSA

In April, Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit fined Okcoin Europe $1.2 million aft detecting definite violations dating backmost to 2023. The punishment came soon aft the MFSA granted a MiCA licence to OKX successful January 2025.

Cointelegraph approached the ESMA and the MFSA for remark regarding the review’s imaginable interaction connected the MiCA-licensed companies successful Malta, but did not person a effect by publication.

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