OPINION: MiCA compliance coming into focus, but firms may be missing the bigger picture

Of course, creating a regulatory framework is one thing. Making it a reality is another – and that’s where MiCA is generating some friction. While the regulation went into effect at the end of last year, it includes a “grandfathering” clause that pushes the actual compliance deadline until July 2026. While the grace period offers breathing room, it’s also creating complacency, with many firms slow to make meaningful progress despite widespread recognition of MiCA’s importance. Case in point: as of May 17, 25 firms have registered as Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) – well below the projected numbers.

Beyond that, many firms are approaching MiCA with a purely compliance-driven mindset – treating it as a simple matter of getting licensed and then continuing business as usual. That approach may prove short-sighted. While MiCA’s surface-level obligations may seem straightforward, its operational requirements – particularly around trade surveillance – are far more complex. These are items that can’t be solved with a quick patch or last-minute implementation.

By taking a holistic look at MiCA’s requirements, scrutinising their existing systems and embracing it as an opportunity to gain a strategic advantage, firms can thrive in this newly regulated landscape – but only if they are clear-eyed about the challenges, complexity and urgency at play.

Crypto Surveillance: Too Complex to Leave Until Later

One common misconception is that trade surveillance is simply another box to check along the journey to MiCA compliance. But unlike static requirements such as KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering), trade surveillance is a live risk control function, originating from long-established market regulation traditions and presenting far more stringent expectations around real-time oversight and auditability. It’s a central pillar of MiCA’s effort to bring crypto in line with traditional capital markets. Regulators will focus on this during audits and expect ever-increasing sophistication. Otherwise, the penalties could be severe.

Even those firms that recognise the importance of surveillance under MiCA will run into roadblocks – simply because crypto is a fundamentally different beast from traditional finance. The distinctions run across a few key areas:

Asset Class Complexity – While often categorised as a single asset class, there is incredible diversity among digital assets. Some tokens behave like commodities. Others resemble securities. Some are hybrid, and many evolve over time. These gray areas can create confusion about what constitutes manipulative or abusive behavior. This is compounded by modern dynamics that are unique to the asset class, from influencer-led token launches to meme-driven trading frenzies. Put simply, it doesn’t look like anything most regulators or surveillance systems have had to track before.

Market Structure Differences – Unlike equities, which trade during predictable market hours and take breaks on holidays, crypto is always on. This 24/7 activity doesn’t just increase volume – it magnifies the complexity of surveillance operations. Firms must continuously ingest and analyse data with no downtime to batch or recalibrate. Surveillance systems that aren’t built for this rhythm will either drown in alerts or miss critical patterns.

Data Fragmentation – One of the most overlooked challenges in crypto surveillance is simply making sense of the data. There is no standard schema. The many OEMS (Order and Execution Management Systems) platforms and exchanges in this market all produce data in different formats, with different fields, different timestamps and inconsistent levels of granularity. Before firms can detect misconduct, they must normalise and stitch together this unruly data universe. That takes time, engineering resources and infrastructure that many market participants and technology vendors simply don’t have.

The key takeaway: to comfortably meet MiCA’s compliance deadline, firms must act now. None of these challenges can be solved overnight – and certainly not in a last-minute sprint. The grandfathering period may buy time on paper, but in practice, firms that aren’t actively preparing today will find themselves scrambling tomorrow.

Parting Thought: Beyond Compliance

Ultimately, MiCA shouldn’t be viewed in isolation. As jurisdictions around the world move toward regulating crypto, firms that embrace robust surveillance capabilities today will put themselves at a strategic advantage – not only in Europe, but globally. MiCA compliance can be a catalyst for future growth, enabling firms to enter new markets faster, build greater trust with institutional partners and integrate digital assets into broader trading operations more easily.

That’s an exciting vision – but the first step is getting the fundamentals right. That means investing in the infrastructure, expertise and operational readiness needed to meet MiCA’s surveillance demands head-on. The firms that do will not only satisfy regulators – they’ll set themselves up to lead in a more mature, more trusted era of crypto.