Only 17% of firms clear MiCA bar as OSL wins Austrian crypto licence

OSL Group has secured authorisation as a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) from Austria’s Financial Market Authority, granting the Hong Kong-listed digital asset platform passporting rights across all 30 European Economic Area states. The approval places OSL among a narrow cohort of survivors of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), under which only around 210 of more than 1,200 previously registered firms, roughly 17 per cent, obtained authorisation by the 1 July 2026 deadline.

The licence, held through subsidiary OSL EU, permits the firm to offer custody, administration, spot trading and on/off-ramp services to both institutional and retail clients throughout the bloc. The subsidiary, formerly registered as CIGE Vierte PGG GmbH, has been rebranded as OSL EU following the approval.

A regulatory filter reshaping the European market

MiCAR replaced the EU’s previous patchwork of national crypto registrations with a single, harmonised authorisation regime, and the scale of attrition among applicants underscores how much tougher the new standard is. Firms were required to demonstrate adequate capital reserves, robust governance arrangements and comprehensive consumer protection measures before national regulators would grant a CASP licence.

With roughly 83 per cent of previously registered firms failing to clear that bar, the platforms left standing, including OSL, now hold a form of regulatory scarcity value: a single authorisation that functions as a passport across every EEA jurisdiction. Firms that missed the deadline face a binary choice of exiting the European market or partnering with one of the authorised operators.

Dual anchoring and a global licensing strategy

Austria is not OSL’s first European regulatory foothold. The company already holds a MiCAR licence through a Netherlands-based subsidiary, giving it dual regulatory anchoring on the continent, a structure that may offer some resilience should any single national regime tighten supervisory expectations further.

OSL Group, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under ticker 863, also holds a licence from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, having been among the first digital asset platforms authorised in that jurisdiction. Across its global footprint, the firm says it has pursued more than 50 licences or registrations, a strategy that positions it as a heavily regulated counterpart to leaner, less compliant rivals.

Compliance costs weigh against market access

Maintaining dozens of licences across multiple jurisdictions carries a material operational cost, and analysts covering the sector note that this overhead could compress margins even as it locks in market access. The European expansion appears to have been treated by markets as an anticipated compliance milestone rather than a surprise catalyst, with no significant immediate movement in OSL’s share price attributed to the announcement.

For the broader European crypto sector, the sharply reduced pool of authorised providers signals a market increasingly concentrated among well-capitalised firms able to absorb MiCA’s compliance burden, a dynamic that could limit competition and shape service costs for institutional and retail users alike across the bloc.

Read more: Binance’s $1bn stablecoin exodus lands as MiCA regime beds in across Europe