The UK: its own regime, live October 2027
MiCA never applied in the UK — Brexit predates it. What governs UK crypto today is a two-part interim setup: FCA anti-money-laundering registration for firms, plus the financial-promotions regime, which makes it unlawful to market cryptoassets to UK consumers unless the promotion comes from (or is approved by) an authorised firm.
The permanent regime is now law. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, made in February 2026, create UK-regulated activities that will look familiar to anyone who has read MiCA: operating a trading platform, dealing, custody, staking and qualifying stablecoin issuance. The FCA published final rules on 30 June 2026, opens its authorisation gateway on 30 September 2026, and the regime takes full effect on 25 October 2027. Until then, UK crypto users rely on a thinner rulebook than their EU neighbours — and an EU MiCA licence confers no rights in the UK at all.
Switzerland: FINMA at home, EU subsidiaries abroad
Switzerland sits outside both the EU and the EEA, so MiCA cannot reach it and FINMA cannot grant MiCA authorisations. Domestically, Swiss providers operate under FINMA’s licensing framework and the 2021 DLT Act — a regime older than MiCA and in some respects stricter. The interesting part is what Swiss firms did about the EU market: they went and got MiCA licences anyway, through subsidiaries.
By mid-2026, eight Swiss crypto providers held MiCA authorisations via EU/EEA entities: Crypto Finance (BaFin, Germany — among Germany’s first, January 2025), AMINA (FMA Austria), Relai and SwissBorg (AMF, France), Swissquote (CSSF, Luxembourg), and RULEMATCH, Bitcoin Suisse and Sygnum — all three via Liechtenstein, which has quietly become the Swiss industry’s favourite door into the EEA: an EEA member next door whose licence passports to all 30 states.
The narrow exception: reverse solicitation
Without a MiCA licence, a UK or Swiss platform may only serve EU clients who sought it out entirely on their own initiative. ESMA’s guidelines (February 2025) read that exemption about as narrowly as words allow: targeted advertising, an EU-language website, even app notifications reaching EU users can void it, and national regulators are instructed to actively monitor online activity. For a consumer the practical translation is simple: if a non-EEA exchange is marketing to you, it is either MiCA-licensed through an EU entity — check the register — or operating outside the rules.
What this means in practice
- EU residents: UK and Swiss platforms without an EU entity cannot actively serve you. The venues that can are on the licensed list.
- UK residents: MiCA protections do not apply to you anywhere — your protections come from FCA rules, which reach full strength in October 2027.
- Firms: one licence never covers both markets. The going pattern is a MiCA entity for the EEA (Liechtenstein and Malta being popular routes — costs on the licence cost page) plus separate FCA permissions for the UK.
Common questions
Does MiCA apply to the UK?
No. MiCA is EU law and never applied in the UK after Brexit. UK crypto firms currently operate under FCA anti-money-laundering registration and the financial-promotions regime; the UK’s own full authorisation regime was legislated in February 2026 and takes full effect on 25 October 2027.
Does MiCA apply to Switzerland?
No. Switzerland is neither in the EU nor the EEA, so MiCA does not reach it and FINMA cannot issue MiCA licences. Swiss providers operate domestically under FINMA licensing and the 2021 DLT Act — and reach EU customers only through separately authorised EU/EEA subsidiaries.
Can a UK or Swiss exchange serve EU customers without a MiCA licence?
Only under reverse solicitation — the client must approach the firm entirely on their own initiative — and ESMA’s 2025 guidelines interpret that exemption very narrowly. Targeted ads, EU-language websites or app notifications reaching EU users disqualify it, and national regulators are told to monitor for exactly that.
Is a MiCA licence valid in the UK?
No. Passporting covers the 30 EEA states only. An EU-licensed exchange that wants UK customers needs FCA-compliant financial promotions today and UK authorisation once the new regime takes effect in October 2027 — and vice versa: a UK licence gives no EU rights.
Status as of 18 July 2026. Sources: FSMA 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026, FCA — new cryptoasset regime, Crypto Valley Journal — Swiss MiCA authorisations, ESMA reverse-solicitation guidelines. Informational only, not legal advice.