The MiCA transitional regime expires on 1 July, and ESMA has confirmed in its 17 April statement that there is no extension. From 2 July, providing crypto-asset services to EU clients without a CASP authorisation is a breach of EU law, and unauthorised firms must cease. The Article 143 grandfathering that let pre-2024 providers keep trading while their applications ran closes on the date, or on the grant or refusal of a licence, whichever comes first, so a pending application buys no extra time. With authorisations running to months rather than weeks, any firm not licensed by now will not be by the deadline. ESMA ... (full story)