The locked capital required for a MiCA spot license is relatively small, between €50,000 ($57,000) and €150,000 per class, according to Patrick Gruhn, founder and CEO of Perpetuals.com Ltd. (PDC).
What becomes expensive is the license itself, which can reach 700,000 euros the first year and 250,000 euros a year later for an efficient company, or millions for a large exchange, Gruhn said by email. “Call 12 to 24 months for the first authorized transaction with legal fees of perhaps 100,000 euros,” he said.
As for the number of jobs that could be lost due to MiCA, there is no reliable estimate. However, many of the 80% of pre-MiCA platforms facing extinction are small ghost entities, Gruhn said.
“That significantly exaggerates the situation,” Gruhn said. “And a lot of this is redeployment, with licensed companies having to hire compliance staff and offshore companies not.”
Changing environment
However, MiCA threatens to stifle crypto as an industry in some countries. The situation is particularly tough in Poland, where internal legislative delays and presidential vetoes have meant that the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (KNF) has faced obstacles in establishing a fully functional crypto application and licensing regime.
Mateusz Kara, CEO of London-based Morphic Financial Group with deep roots and operations in Poland, said the MiCA deadline could “kill Polish cryptocurrencies.”
