The MiFID licence: what it allows and why it changes everything

Since 1 July 2026, a crypto platform without a MiCA authorisation is no longer allowed to serve clients in the European Union. The deadline made headlines, and rightly so: several major players did not get their licence in time. But while everyone was watching MiCA, another licence, much older and much broader, stayed in the shadows.

It is called MiFID II. Since 2018 it has applied to every bank, every broker and every asset manager in Europe. And it decides what a platform is allowed to offer you, well beyond crypto. Here is what it allows, what it costs, and why holding both MiFID and MiCA is a special case.

MiFID: the 2-minute refresher

MiFID stands for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The first version dates from 2004. The second, MiFID II (Directive 2014/65/EU), was adopted in 2014 and has applied since 3 January 2018. It is complemented by a regulation, MiFIR, which sets the market transparency rules.

Its purpose: to regulate firms that provide investment services on financial instruments. The vocabulary matters, because it draws the boundary of what the licence covers.

Whatever is not a financial instrument is not covered by MiFID. Bitcoin held directly, physical gold in a vault, a property: out of scope. That is exactly the gap MiCA was created to fill for crypto.

What a MiFID licence allows a firm to do

The directive distinguishes eight investment services. A firm applies for one or more of them, and may only provide those listed on its licence.

Ancillary services come on top: custody of securities, lending to invest (margin trading), corporate advice, foreign exchange linked to transactions.

For a retail investor, the licence makes a concrete difference: a MiFID-licensed broker can give you access to stocks, ETFs, bonds and derivatives. It can lend you money to invest with leverage. It can let you sell short. None of this is possible with a MiCA licence alone.

What it takes to get one

Obtaining a MiFID licence generally takes 9 to 18 months and mobilises legal, compliance and risk teams from the day the file is submitted. The requirements fall into five families.

1. Initial capital

Under the prudential regime for investment firms (Directive 2019/2034 and Regulation 2019/2033, applicable since June 2021), minimum capital depends on the services provided.

This capital is a floor. In practice, ongoing own-funds requirements are calculated continuously according to activity (client volumes, assets under management, orders handled), and they quickly exceed these amounts.

2. "Fit and proper" managers and shareholders

The regulator checks the integrity, experience and availability of every manager, as well as the identity and financial soundness of shareholders holding more than 10% of the capital. A change of controlling shareholder must be notified and can be refused.

3. An organisation that holds up

Three independent control functions must exist: compliance, risk management, internal audit. The firm must document its procedures, manage conflicts of interest, supervise outsourcing, keep records of orders and conversations for five years and, since the DORA regulation in January 2025, prove its IT resilience.

4. Client protection

This is the heart of MiFID II. Four obligations structure the relationship:

• Segregation of assets: your securities and your cash are kept separate from the firm's own. If the broker fails, they are not part of the estate to be liquidated.
• Compensation scheme: compulsory membership of an investor compensation scheme covering at least €20,000 per client if assets cannot be returned.
• Suitability or appropriateness test: before advising you, the firm checks that the product fits your situation. Before giving you access to a complex product on an execution-only basis, it checks that you understand the risks.
• Best execution: the firm must take all sufficient steps to obtain the best possible result for your orders, price and costs included, and be able to prove it.

Add to this product governance (every product has a defined target market), disclosure of costs before and after every transaction, and a ban on receiving inducements in discretionary management or independent advice.

5. Transparency towards the market

Reporting of every transaction to the regulator by the next day, publication of prices before and after trading depending on the instrument, specific controls on algorithmic trading.

MiFID and MiCA: two licences, two worlds

The most important point is the boundary. MiCA applies to crypto-assets "that are not financial instruments". As soon as a crypto product takes the form of a derivative, a leveraged position, a short sale or a tokenised security, it becomes a financial instrument again and falls under MiFID.

In other words, a platform holding only a MiCA licence can sell you spot Bitcoin. It cannot offer you a short position on Ether, nor 3x leverage on Solana, nor an ETF, nor a stock. For that, MiFID is required.

Why holding both is a special case

In Europe, players generally fall into one of two families.

Traditional brokers hold a MiFID licence, sometimes for decades. They offer stocks, ETFs and derivatives. When they add crypto, it is often through a third-party partner or through listed ETNs, not direct holding.

Crypto platforms hold a MiCA licence (or a national registration in the meantime). They offer buying and custody of crypto. As soon as they want to add leverage or stocks, they run into the absence of a MiFID licence, or go through a subsidiary outside the European Union, with different protections.

Holding both, within the same group and under the supervision of the same regulator, changes three things for the investor:

• One account for asset classes that used to live apart: stocks, ETFs, gold, silver, crypto, with leverage and short selling available across the board.
• The same level of protection across the whole portfolio: segregation of assets, compensation scheme, knowledge tests, best execution, including on leveraged crypto, which falls under MiFID.
• Unified margin: a gain on a stock position can serve as collateral for a crypto position, and vice versa, since everything is managed within a single regulatory framework.

That is the choice Neverless has made. Neverless SIA is authorised under MiCA by the Bank of Latvia for crypto-asset services. Boku Securities SIA holds a MiFID II licence granted by the same authority for investment services. Both entities belong to the same group and answer to the same supervisor.

Advantages of a MiFID platform

• Access to classic financial instruments: stocks, ETFs, bonds, derivatives.
• Regulated leverage and short selling.
• Segregated assets covered by a compensation scheme.
• A verifiable best-execution obligation.
• Full disclosure of costs before every transaction.

Disadvantages and limits

• A longer onboarding: knowledge questionnaire, suitability tests, key information documents.
• Complex products whose access can be refused if the test is not conclusive.
• A licence that does not guarantee performance: it governs the firm's conduct, not the outcome of your investments.
• A compensation scheme that covers non-return of assets, not market losses.

How to check a platform's licence

Three reflexes before depositing a single euro:

1. Look for the legal entity, not the brand. The legal notice must state which company provides which service, and under which licence.
2. Check the regulator's register. Every authority publishes the list of authorised firms. ESMA keeps a European register of investment firms and, since 2025, of MiCA service providers.
3. Read the liability line. If leverage or stocks are offered by an entity located outside the European Union, MiFID protections do not apply.