Paymonade clears Europe's crypto licensing deadline as 90 percent of rivals fall short

Europe's crypto licensing window has shut, and roughly 90 percent of crypto companies operating in the European Economic Area did not obtain authorization before it closed. MiCA, the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, is the European Union's binding framework requiring crypto firms to hold formal approval before serving customers across the bloc's member states. Damoon Technology (Europe) AG, operating as Paymonade and registered in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, is among the approximately 280 companies that secured MiCA authorization in time.

What the transition period actually was

A transition period, in regulatory terms, is the window given to firms already active in a market to come into compliance with new rules without immediately losing the right to operate. Under MiCA, crypto companies working in EEA markets before the regulation took effect were given a fixed period to either obtain a license or stop serving EEA customers. That window has now closed. The 90 percent of European crypto companies that did not achieve authorization before the deadline lost their legal standing to keep operating across the bloc. Paymonade's announcement, dated July 19, 2026, coincides with that closure.

The 280 figure and what it tells you

Across the entire EEA, 280 companies hold MiCA authorization. That is the baseline number for reading the 90 percent failure rate: the clear majority of European crypto companies active before the transition deadline did not complete the licensing process. Damoon Technology (Europe) AG, the Liechtenstein-registered entity whose founder is based in Singapore, is one of the companies that did. The firm operates publicly under the Paymonade name.

Why the dropout number matters more than the authorization itself

Crypto licensing conversations often get dominated by market access and branding. The more informative number here is how few companies cleared the process. MiCA authorization operates as a single passport across all EEA member states, meaning a licensed firm does not need to file separate national applications to operate across the bloc. Companies that missed the transition deadline now face those markets as outsiders. Paymonade's authorization was announced on July 19, 2026.