Key Takeaways:
More than half of France's registered crypto firms risk forced shutdown by July 1 as the AMF warns of blacklisting and prosecution for unlicensed operators.
France's financial regulator told roughly 90 crypto companies operating under legacy registrations that they must secure full Markets in Crypto-Assets authorization by June 30 or face blacklisting, prosecution and forced exit from the country.
"It's becoming very, very urgent to finalize the license applications," Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, president of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, told journalists on Thursday. Companies that fail to obtain authorization must have "orderly wind-down plans" to offload customers and cease operations, she said.
Of the roughly 90 registered digital asset service providers in France that lack MiCA authorization as of January, only 30% had submitted an application. A full 40% said they don't plan to apply at all, and the remaining 30% didn't respond to the AMF's inquiries, according to the regulator. Starting July 1, only firms holding full MiCA authorization as crypto-asset service providers will be allowed to operate in France.
The deadline creates a binary outcome for France's crypto market: firms that secure MiCA authorization gain a passport to offer services across all 27 EU member states through a single license, while those that don't face legal enforcement. The AMF has also signaled it may challenge passporting rights tied to licenses issued by other EU countries if it disagrees with how those approvals were granted, raising the risk of regulatory fragmentation within the bloc.
France has been updating its legal framework to align with MiCA over the past year, enacting Ordinance 2024-936 in October 2024 and Decree 2025-169 in February 2025. For new entrants, full MiCA authorization has been required since Dec. 30, 2024. The June 30 deadline applies specifically to legacy operators previously registered under France's PSAN framework.
The AMF's enforcement aligns with guidance from the European Securities and Markets Authority, which has been coordinating expectations across EU member states to ensure consistent application of the transitional period. ESMA has previously warned firms without MiCA authorization to prepare wind-down plans if they intend to cease operations within the bloc.
Tensions are mounting between EU member states over how MiCA rules are enforced. Malta's licensing approvals drew scrutiny last year after some European officials questioned whether standards were being applied consistently. Barbat-Layani said France would consider blocking passporting rights tied to licenses issued by other EU countries if French regulators disagreed with how those approvals were granted, though she described such a move as representing a "serious collective failure" among European regulators.
The regulatory push comes as European authorities complete the rollout of MiCA, widely considered one of the world's most comprehensive crypto regulatory frameworks. The rules establish requirements covering consumer protections, reserve holdings for stablecoins, transparency obligations and operational standards for crypto service providers. The framework was formally adopted in 2023 and accelerated after the collapse of FTX in 2022, which triggered billions of dollars in customer losses.
Several major crypto firms have already secured MiCA-related approvals or submitted applications in countries including France, Germany and Ireland as companies seek to preserve access to European customers. Industry executives and legal analysts have said MiCA could reshape how crypto firms structure operations in Europe by increasing compliance costs while also creating a clearer legal framework for institutional investors entering the digital asset sector.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
