Investors following Webull’s European expansion learned this week that the Webull EU MiCA authorisation has been granted by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), making the broker one of the first firms to clear the post-grandfathering hurdle under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, the EU’s harmonised rulebook for digital-asset firms.
The approval, reported by FFnews, covers crypto trading and custody services, with Webull planning to launch those operations in late 2026. FFnews also notes that Webull is using Coinbase for trade execution as part of its regulated crypto-asset offering across the EU.
Andries van Luijk, chief executive of Webull Securities (Europe), said the group remains committed to providing ‘secure and compliant access to digital assets’ under the EU framework. Webull established its EU base in the Netherlands in 2025, building on its zero-commission brokerage in the US and a retail operation in the UK.
What the Q1 2026 Numbers Tell Holders
The MiCA approval arrives alongside a mixed set of quarterly results. Webull Group reported total revenues of $159.9 million for Q1 2026, up 36% year-on-year, according to the company’s official Q1 2026 press release. Trading-related revenues accounted for $110.9 million of that total, a 36% year-on-year rise, while interest-related income grew 29% to $40.1 million, per the Motley Fool Q1 2026 earnings call transcript. Daily average revenue trades (DARTs, the number of client trades generating commission or spread income per day) reached 1.31 million in the quarter.
The top-line growth, however, masks significant cost pressure. Quartr’s earnings summary shows that adjusted operating expenses rose 64% year-on-year to $145.1 million, driven by increased marketing and technology spending. The result was a net loss attributable to the company of $21.7 million, a reversal from net income of $13.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, operating profit was $14.8 million (a 9.3% margin) and adjusted net income was $9.2 million (5.8% of revenue).
The headline earnings-per-share figure also fell short of forecasts. EPS came in at $0.03 against an analyst consensus of $0.04, a 25% miss, and revenues of $159.9 million were $4.73 million below the consensus estimate of $164.63 million. The stock fell 5.44% in regular trading following the release and dropped a further 0.7% in aftermarket trading, according to the Investing.com earnings call transcript.
The company’s own press release flags that the year-on-year change in net loss per share was partly shaped by the conversion of preferred stock into ordinary shares upon the closing of its business combination with SK Growth Opportunities Corporation in April 2025, which increased weighted-average shares outstanding.
Webull EU MiCA Authorisation in a Tightening Regulatory Landscape
The AFM approval matters partly because the MiCA transition has been far from smooth across the EU. The grandfathering period (a transitional window allowing firms with existing national Crypto Asset Service Provider registrations to continue operating while seeking full MiCA authorisation) ended on 1 July. Roughly 200 firms are now licensed across the bloc, a fraction of those previously operating under looser national regimes.
Binance is the most prominent casualty so far. Greece’s Hellenic Capital Market Commission reportedly rejected Binance’s application, and the exchange stopped short of denying the reports while stating it remains committed to Europe, according to the Bitcoin Foundation’s coverage of the licence delay.
The enforcement gap remains wide. OKX Europe chief executive Erald Ghoos has said that roughly 60% of European crypto users are still trading on platforms without a valid MiCA licence. Between May 2025 and May 2026, 7.6 million of the 18.5 million crypto exchange app downloads across Europe went to unlicensed platforms, per Digital Bytes.
The regulatory framework is also incomplete in other areas. Stablecoins require a separate Electronic Money Institution licence (an authorisation issued under banking supervision rather than securities-market rules), and Brussels has launched a formal review of how MiCA is functioning in practice. The European Parliament is pushing the European Commission to address decentralised finance and staking, areas the original MiCA text left largely uncovered. Parliament has also warned that member states going their own way on DeFi or NFT rules could fragment the single market that MiCA was designed to create, as the European Securities and Markets Authority’s grandfathering documentation illustrates in the patchwork of differing national transition periods adopted across the bloc.
For Webull, the immediate question is whether it can convert its regulatory head start into revenue before the EU crypto market consolidates further around a small group of fully licensed operators.
