EU CRYPTO REGISTER · GLOSSARY · LAST VERIFIED
What is MiCA Article 143 and the 1 July 2026 deadline?
Article 143 of MiCA permits Member States to allow pre-existing national-regime crypto firms to continue operating without an immediate MiCA authorisation, during a transitional period of up to 18 months from 30 December 2024. The latest end-date is 1 July 2026; from that date all crypto-asset service to EEA residents requires a MiCA authorisation or an Article 60 exemption.
What is the exact legal definition?
MiCA Article 143(3) permits Member States to apply a simplified procedure to authorise CASPs that, on 30 December 2024, were providing crypto-asset services under national rules. Paragraph 4 caps the transitional grandfathering at 18 months from 30 December 2024, i.e. 1 July 2026. Source: Article 143 MiCA.
What does it actually mean in practice?
Why a transitional period exists. MiCA replaces a patchwork of pre-existing national crypto regimes (Germany's BaFin custodian licence, the Dutch DNB Wwft registration, France's PSAN/DASP, Italy's OAM iscrizione, Cyprus's CySEC CASP register, Malta's VFA framework, Austria's FMA registration, and others). Article 143 gives firms operating under these national regimes a runway to file under MiCA without immediate disruption.
Member-state implementation. The 18-month maximum is a ceiling, not a default. Member States have implemented shorter transitional periods or stricter conditions, in some cases requiring firms to file MiCA applications by an earlier date to retain the runway. France and Italy publish official guidance on the national interpretation; Germany and the Netherlands moved more aggressively away from their pre-existing regimes.
What happens on 1 July 2026. The transitional runway closes EEA-wide. From that date, no national legacy regime preserves the right to serve EEA residents in crypto-asset services. A firm without a MiCA authorisation cannot rely on a French DASP, Italian OAM, or Polish VASP registration to continue operating after that date.
Holdover scenarios. The hard case is a firm that has filed a MiCA application but has not yet received a decision on 1 July 2026. The regulation does not automatically extend the transitional period for pending applications. Whether a Member State can permit continued service while the application is under review is a matter of national interpretation; some NCAs have published positions, others have not. ESMA has not issued a binding guidance on this specific question as of 12 May 2026.
Where do we see this in the public record?
| Example | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Transitional ceiling | 18 months from 30 December 2024 |
| Latest end-date | 1 July 2026 (Article 143(4)) |
| Simplified procedure availability | Member State option for pre-30 December 2024 national-regime firms |
| ESMA register effect | Authorisations issued under the simplified procedure are entered in the register on the same basis as standard authorisations |
What else do users ask about this?
Does a pending MiCA application automatically extend a transitional permission past 1 July 2026?
Not by default in the regulation. Member-state authorities have discretion; some have issued public guidance accepting pending-application status, others have not.
Which national regimes does Article 143 cover?
Any national framework under which crypto-asset services were provided lawfully before 30 December 2024 - including France's PSAN/DASP, Italy's OAM, Germany's BaFin custody licence, the Netherlands' Wwft registration, Poland's VASP register, and equivalent regimes elsewhere.
If a Member State did not opt for the simplified procedure, what happens to its pre-existing firms?
They must apply under the standard Article 63 procedure and meet the full authorisation gating, including capital, governance and conduct requirements.
Which sources is this entry based on?
- MiCA Article 143 - Transitional measures
- MiCA Article 63 - Authorisation procedure
- ESMA - MiCA landing page
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) on EUR-Lex
Glossary entries on The Crypto Register are sourced from primary legal texts (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, ESMA guidelines, national regulator publications). They are not legal advice. Last verified .