Abstract

The article examines the limits of implementation of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) in the context of admissibility and the scope of banks’ ability to provide crypto-asset services. The author argues that despite MiCA’s declared objective of internal market integration the regulation does not remove the key barriers faced by credit institutions. Instead, it reveals a structural tension between the logic of financial market harmonization and the prudential logic of banking regulation. The article identifies normative, functional and strategic boundaries to banks’ involvement in crypto-asset activities resulting from the cumulative interaction of MiCA with the CRR/CRD framework, AML/CFT requirements and DORA, as well as supervisory practice.