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More than four months ago, regulations under the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation came into force against the cryptocurrency industry within the European Union.
Regulation, in most cases, is a double-edged sword for sector players - it is always a package of new opportunities, but also threats.
This is mainly what I talked about on our Bitcoin ATM wall with Matthew Kara - CEO of ARI10 - who is also a lawyer by training, so for this topic a perfect interlocutor! 🎙️
We present you with a transcript of another conversation we were able to record during the Invest Cuffs 2025 conference in Krakow.
We were visited by the aforementioned Matthew Kara, with whom I had already had the opportunity to talk a few years earlier - precisely on the topic of regulation of the cryptocurrency market.
Our first meeting took place in 2022, when it was only clear that the digital asset industry would be covered by the legal force of the MiCa regulation.
At the time, we could only speculate on what the Old Continent should look forward to in terms of forced changes, what the opportunities and threats are. Today, with the regulations resulting from the MiCa law already in force within the EU countries, we can confront our assumptions with reality.
– As for the Polish market, I am very disappointed with how it looks. We did not manage to pass the law in time. At the end of December 2024, the MiCA regulation entered into force, and we still do not have a law in Poland that would allow crypto companies to submit MiCA license applications. The transition period, which was supposed to end at the end of June 2025, will be extended, but even if it remains in force until mid-2026, we do not need this kind of uncertainty — comments Kara.
As he explained, the corollary of the fact that our country does not have specific guidelines on how cryptocurrency companies operating in its territory should operate is that most rational players will decide to move their business to another country in the EU.
- We, for example, applied in the Netherlands. As early as May 2024, applications could be submitted there, and the the first licenses were already issued a few days after the MiCA regulations went into effect - mentioned my interviewee.
On the other hand, how will the new regulations on running cryptocurrency businesses in Poland affect the users themselves?
Matthew Kara first focused on pointing out the advantages:
- There will certainly be greater professionalization of the entities that will stay on the market and much less risk that they will disappear with the means of customers .
– The downside will be that there will be far fewer such companies, meaning less choice for customers and slower innovation in crypto businesses.
Ari10's CEO also made the prediction that many EU users will start using Asian solutions, as players there will not be restricted in their development due to regulations.
