WhiteBIT Secures MiCA License In Austria, Passporting Crypto Services Across EEA Before July 1

Crypto exchange WhiteBIT secured authorization under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) from Austria’s Financial Market Authority, giving it a single regulatory license to offer crypto services across the European Economic Area.

The approval arrives less than 2 weeks before the EU’s MiCA transition period expires on July 1, after which crypto companies still relying on legacy national registrations must either hold a MiCA authorization or stop serving clients in the bloc.

@coindesk

Under MiCA, a crypto company authorized in one EU member state can passport its services across the wider European Economic Area without applying for separate licenses in each jurisdiction, and WhiteBIT said the authorization will support the launch of a dedicated European platform, whitebit.eu.

Austria’s Financial Market Authority has licensed 9 crypto-asset service providers under MiCA and described application volume as "significant," while Austria did not extend grandfathering provisions for virtual asset service providers beyond Dec. 31, 2025.

Cointelegraph similarly framed the move as WhiteBIT obtaining authorization that will require exchanges to hold MiCA licenses or stop serving clients after July 1, and noted the regulator’s passporting model for EU-wide access.

Germany has emerged as the dominant force in the European Union’s new crypto regulatory framework, accounting for approximately 36% of all Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) license approvals under MiCA, according to a report from BeInCrypto.

The same report said fewer than 60 companies have secured a license across the entire EU as full implementation of MiCA approaches on July 1, and that German authorities have approved roughly 18 of them.

Bitcoin World

Germany’s regulators shortened the MiCA grace period to just 12 months, which ended on December 31 of last year, and the report said this move encouraged early applications and resulted in a surge of 16 new approvals in the fourth quarter alone.

The MiCA regulation is described as granting a “passport” mechanism, so that once a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) is licensed in one EU member state, it can offer its services across the entire European Union without needing separate approvals from each country.

In parallel, FinanceFeeds tied the July 1 cutoff to operational risk, saying firms operating under older national registrations will no longer be able to continue serving EU clients unless they have secured MiCA approval or a valid transition arrangement in a jurisdiction that still allows it.

As the transition period ends, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has said companies that remain unauthorized after July 1 should implement wind-down and client migration plans rather than continue operating while applications remain under review.

Cointelegraph reported that data shared by OKX Europe suggests the MiCA transition could affect a meaningful share of Europe’s crypto market, with roughly 7.6 million of the 18.5 million crypto app downloads recorded in Europe between May 2025 and May 2026 linked to exchanges not listed on public MiCA authorization registers.

FinanceFeeds similarly described the July 1 deadline as the main pressure point for Europe’s crypto market, warning that licensing status would become a first filter for assessing exchange risk and potentially drive client migrations, restricted services, app changes, or forced wind-down plans.

FinanceFeeds also said reports this week indicated Greece’s market regulator was preparing to reject Binance’s MiCA application, while France may remain one of the exchange’s last available routes to authorization before the cutoff.

In Austria, Cointelegraph added that the regulator has licensed nine crypto-asset service providers under MiCA and described application volume as "significant," reinforcing how authorization timing and jurisdictional rules are shaping who can keep serving clients after July 1.