The locked-up capital needed for a MiCA spot license is relatively small, somewhere between 50,000 euros ($57,000) and 150,000 euros by class, according to Patrick Gruhn, founder and CEO of Perpetuals.com Ltd. (PDC).
What gets expensive is the license itself, which can be as high as 700,000 euros in year one and 250,000 euros the following year for a lean company, or into the millions for a large exchange, Gruhn said by email. “Call it 12-24 months to the first authorized trade with maybe €100,000 in legal fees,” he said.
As for the number of jobs that may be lost due to MiCA, no reliable estimate exists. However, many of the 80% of pre-MiCA platforms facing extinction are small shell devices, Gruhn said.
“That significantly overstates the situation,” Gruhn said. “And a lot of that is redistribution, since licensed companies have to hire compliance staff and the offshore companies don’t.”
Changing surroundings
Nevertheless, MiCA threatens to suffocate crypto as an industry in some countries. The situation is particularly dire in Poland, where national legislative delays and presidential vetoes have meant that the Polish Financial Supervisory Authority (KNF) has faced roadblocks in establishing a fully functional crypto application and licensing regime.
Mateusz Kara, CEO of Morphic Financial Group, which is headquartered in London and has deep roots and operations in Poland, said the MiCA deadline could “wipe out Polish crypto.”
