Poland's crypto industry faces a survival crisis after the MiCA transition ends

ChainCatcher reports that Mateusz Kara, founder and CEO of Morphic Financial Group, wrote in CoinDesk that the MiCA transition period ended on July 1, and the Polish Ministry of Finance confirmed that existing virtual currency registrations no longer serve as a legal basis for operating as a VASP or CASP—crypto services may now only be provided by entities holding a valid MiCA authorization. Poland previously had approximately 2,000 registered virtual asset service providers, but political gridlock prevented the establishment of a viable licensing pathway; Germany has issued 57 licenses, France and the Netherlands each 26, while Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Romania combined have issued zero. Kara noted that Polish investors hold around €9.4 billion in digital assets, and corporate relocations will lead to the loss of compliance teams, capital, and investment, with ecosystem reconstruction potentially taking years. MiCA compliance costs can reach up to €700,000, and serious violations may incur fines of millions of euros, significantly narrowing the space for small participants. However, he believes MiCA will benefit the European crypto industry in the long term, accelerating consolidation by eliminating weaker operators and creating a safer market; the UK’s FCA is also rolling out a similar regime, but Poland risks becoming merely a sales market rather than an active participant in building Europe’s digital finance landscape.