Bybit chief executive Ben Zhou said in a Sunday interview that the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation is "necessary but not sufficient" for crypto exchanges seeking durable profitability in Europe. Zhou argued that firms need to layer national-level e-money, payment institution and investment-firm licenses on top of the MiCA passport in order to access bank-adjacent revenue streams that drive most of the unit economics in mature markets.
Bybit secured its full MiCA Crypto-Asset Service Provider authorization through Austria's FMA in March, and Zhou said the firm has additional applications in motion in Germany (BaFin), the Netherlands (DNB) and France (AMF/ACPR) targeting completion by Q4. The exchange also closed an Italian VASP registration earlier this month and is in advanced talks with Cyprus's CySEC for an investment-firm license that would enable derivative offerings to professional clients.
The Profitability Math
Spot trading fees, the bread-and-butter of crypto exchange revenue, have compressed to roughly 9 basis points blended (taker plus maker) at the largest venues — half the level of two years ago. Margin lending books and stablecoin float, by contrast, generate 35-55% gross margins, but to deploy them at scale exchanges need either banking partnerships or in-house credit licenses. "MiCA does not authorize lending or stablecoin issuance," Zhou said. "Without national-level e-money authorization you cannot scale the parts of the business that matter."
Coinbase reported its German market entry last week, anchored on the BaFin license obtained in 2023. Kraken acquired Crypto Facilities Ltd in 2019 in part to inherit a CySEC investment-firm license. OKX, Binance and Crypto.com have all signalled they are pursuing similar multi-license strategies.
MiCA Implementation Realities
Sixteen months after MiCA's formal entry into force, only 41 firms have completed full CASP authorization, fewer than half of the 100-plus expected at this stage. Several large issuers including Tether (USDT) abandoned EU-compliant operations after determining the reserves regime was incompatible with their treasury structure. Circle's USDC and PayPal's PYUSD remain the dominant euro-area-compliant stablecoins, with combined euro-denominated supply of €1.4 billion versus a U.S. dollar supply of $76 billion.