MiCAR was supposed to harmonise crypto regulation across Europe.
In practice? It’s already shaping a new map of winners, trade-offs, and strategic choices.
A recent analysis shared by Dentons and reported by Paperjam makes one thing very clear: MiCAR is less harmonised than it looks.
Yes, the rulebook is European.
But the way it’s implemented, supervised, and operationalised is still very much national.
Authorisation processes.
Supervisory culture.
Transitional regimes.
“Gold-plating”.
All of these differ from country to country and crypto firms are noticing.
In other words: jurisdiction shopping is back, just in a more subtle, institutional form.
And this is where Luxembourg’s position becomes interesting.
According to the analysis, Luxembourg is positioning itself exactly where you’d expect a mature financial centre to be:
- cautious in supervision
- facilitative in market access
- clear in operational expectations
Not the fastest.
Not the loosest.
But credible, predictable, and sustainable.
That “middle-band” positioning may not sound flashy but for serious operators building for the long term, it matters a lot.
At OffChain Luxembourg, this doesn’t surprise us.
We’ve always said that regulation is about how you integrate innovation into an existing financial ecosystem without breaking trust, stability, or legitimacy.
MiCAR doesn’t magically solve that.
It creates a framework and leaves room for interpretation.
What this moment really shows is that regulation is a process, not a switch, credibility will matter more than speed
and jurisdictions that know how to balance innovation with supervision will attract the most resilient projects.
Luxembourg has done this before in traditional finance.
The question now is whether it can do it again in crypto.
From our perspective, the opportunity is real but it requires dialogue, transparency, and informed participation from the ecosystem.
And that’s exactly where OffChain intends to stay involved.
The next phase of European crypto will be built between rules, institutions, and communities.
And MiCAR is just the beginning.
