The past six months have marked a turning point in BlockBen’s journey.

We reached a major milestone by obtaining our MiCA license, launching an entirely new system, and introducing what we believe to be the first token in the European Union issued for a financial service provider operating under third-party supervision. This was not simply a product development project—it was the creation of a new operating model that combines regulated token issuance, technological infrastructure, compliance processes, and market operations within a single framework.

Beyond the visible milestones, an enormous amount of work has taken place behind the scenes. The European crypto market in the post-MiCA era is still evolving. Regulatory expectations, technical standards, and market practices continue to change, sometimes rapidly. In this environment, success is not only about complying with regulations—it is also about learning and adapting alongside regulators, partners, and other market participants.

What Does the MiCA-Licensed Market Look Like?

A MiCA license does not represent a single business model. Licensed firms operate across a wide range of activities, including traditional crypto exchanges, custody providers, trading platforms, payment and transfer infrastructure providers, portfolio managers, advisors, as well as companies involved in token placement and issuance services.

According to data processed from the ESMA register on April 7, 2026, there were 183 MiCA-licensed CASPs operating across 20 EEA countries. Based on their service profiles, the market remains heavily focused on infrastructure and transaction-related services.

MiCA Services (Number of Licensed Firms and Share of 183 CASPs):

  • Custody and administration of crypto-assets: 120 (65.6%)
  • Transfer services for crypto-assets: 109 (59.6%)
  • Execution of orders on behalf of clients: 95 (51.9%)
  • Crypto-to-fiat exchange services: 91 (49.7%)
  • Crypto-to-crypto exchange services: 76 (41.5%)
  • Reception and transmission of orders: 54 (29.5%)
  • Portfolio management of crypto-assets: 28 (15.3%)
  • Crypto-asset advisory services: 20 (10.9%)
  • Placement of crypto-assets: 19 (10.4%)
  • Operation of crypto-asset trading platforms: 14 (7.7%)

It is important to note that these percentages do not add up to 100%, as a single CASP may hold authorization for multiple services. Nevertheless, the picture is clear. The most common activities revolve around custody, transfers, exchange services, and order execution. Token placement, advisory services, portfolio management, and trading platform operations remain significantly less common.

This suggests that in the first phase of the MiCA market, most participants are building around core infrastructure, asset custody, and transactional capabilities, while more sophisticated tokenization and issuance models remain relatively rare. For us, this is particularly important because BlockBen is not simply building another crypto service.

We are developing a regulated tokenization framework that enables businesses to transform their commercial propositions—whether B2C or B2B—into legally structured, technologically robust, and market-ready token ecosystems.

BlockBen issues. You build your business.

Our mission remains simple: BlockBen provides the framework for regulated token issuance, while our partners focus on building their business.

In practice, this means managing the entire token journey within a unified system—from structure design and compliance processes through technological implementation, KYC/AML operations, and market deployment. Tokenization is not an end in itself. It is a tool that can enable faster capital flows, new revenue models, stronger communities, improved customer retention, and entirely new forms of digital business.

The work completed over the past months has reinforced one important realization: The new chapter of the European crypto market is not simply a continuation of the old one. MiCA has introduced a new level of quality—fewer participants, higher barriers to entry, stronger regulatory oversight, and greater responsibility. In this environment, the real value lies not in being able to “create a token,” but in being able to launch and operate one in a regulated, sustainable, and commercially meaningful way.

We will be back soon with exciting updates and new developments!