MiCA Phase 2 Enforcement Begins Across EU as Crypto Brokers Face New Compliance Deadline
The second phase of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation formally entered enforcement in April 2026, marking a significant shift in how crypto brokers and exchanges operate across the bloc.
Phase 1 of MiCA, which covered issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, came into force in mid-2024. Phase 2 extends the framework to crypto asset service providers — a category that includes exchanges, brokers offering crypto CFDs, custodians, and portfolio managers handling crypto on behalf of clients.
What Phase 2 requires
Firms now need to hold a CASP licence from their national competent authority to offer crypto services to EU retail clients. Licensing requires meeting minimum capital thresholds, maintaining segregated client asset arrangements, submitting to ongoing AML and reporting obligations, and providing standardised information documents for each listed asset.
Firms that were operating under transitional arrangements — a grace period that national regulators extended by varying amounts — must now either hold a licence or exit the EU market. Some smaller offshore platforms that relied on passporting from permissive jurisdictions are expected to restrict EU access entirely rather than meet the requirements.
What this means for traders
For retail investors, MiCA Phase 2 introduces a clearer baseline for what a legitimately operating crypto broker in the EU looks like. You can now check whether a firm holds a CASP licence through ESMA’s centralised register, which is being updated as authorisations are granted.
Brokers that are not listed should be treated with caution. The regulation does not prevent fraud, but it does establish a minimum standard of oversight and recourse if things go wrong.
The transition is also expected to consolidate the market. Larger, better-capitalised platforms will absorb retail flow from smaller operators that cannot meet the compliance bar.
At The Broker Report, we are updating our crypto broker reviews to reflect CASP authorisation status as the register builds out.