In Brussels, a clash of principle is shifting to the middle of the table as France openly doubts the heart of the new European crypto law and even threatens to bar companies seeking to enter the French market with a license from another member state, putting pressure on MiCA's passporting mechanism and making the promise of a borderless market suddenly seem less obvious.
The French regulator is not alone, with Italy and Austria joining in calling for a heavier role for the European Securities Authority so that the largest players are directly subject to European supervision. There will also be an extra focus on cyber resilience and activities outside the Union that are now often left out of the picture. In a joint call, the authorities call for a stronger framework that reduces differences in enforcement and discourages forum shopping.
The headwinds are immediate, as Malta, among others, warns that centralization actually adds bureaucracy and erodes national clout at a time when Europe demands speed and competition is increasing. This is a signal that shows how divided member states are on the route to a level playing field.
Legal experts, meanwhile, point to a hard edge, as the passport is a core MiCA provision, and a national blockade of a validly granted license seems legally untenable. Although a regulator can monitor more rigorously, signal and forward files to the European level when risks accumulate. The fight thus shifts to interpretation and procedure, not a quick stop at the border.
In the background, the calendar continues as European rules have been in place since the end of 2024 with a transition period in which member states allow existing providers to continue temporarily, while new licenses are phased in and European guidelines tighten providers' knowledge and competencies to protect customer trust. The combination of passporting and stricter requirements was actually supposed to prevent fragmentation, although the current row shows that equal rules do not yet guarantee equal enforcement.
Meanwhile, the market is not waiting, as big names emphatically set their sights on Europe with new entities, product expansion and a strategy built on a license for the entire Economic Area. This is a movement that explains the stakes of the current discussion and reveals the weight of the passport in hard euros.
Those who look across the lines see not a technical disagreement but a power question about who ultimately decides when a platform with millions of customers makes a mistake or faces an attack. And the answer will determine whether Europe sets a tone or whether national orchestras each continue to play at their own pace, with the risk that the music stalls precisely when reliability is most needed.
