Dubai Law Firm Sees Surge in Crypto Founders Fleeing MiCA

Crypto companies are increasingly examining the United Arab Emirates as a regulatory base as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, or MiCA, approaches its July 1 deadline. Dubai-based lawyer Irina Heaver of NeosLegal said her firm now fields more than 120 inquiries a week from founders weighing a move, about half of them from Europe.

Inquiries From European Founders Have Surged

Heaver said demand from European entrepreneurs has accelerated as companies weigh the cost, timing and uncertainty of securing MiCA authorization in the bloc. The inquiries include founders from Spain, Italy and Germany, as well as Switzerland and the U.K., both of which sit outside MiCA’s scope.

Heaver said the pickup in interest began roughly 18 months ago, before MiCA’s first provisions took effect. Stablecoin-specific rules began applying about a year ago, and crypto-asset service providers have since been working through a transition period ahead of the July 1, 2026 deadline. After that date, firms relying on legacy national licensing regimes will no longer be able to offer MiCA-regulated services in the EU.

Heaver described the founders contacting her firm as experienced operators rather than newcomers. Irina Heaver, lawyer at NeosLegal, said:

“They’re not just some random guys. They’re former founders or current founders, somebody with multiple exits, somebody with years of experience in crypto.”

Binance Exit Triggers Rival Exchange Bonuses

MiCA establishes a single rulebook for crypto across the European Economic Area, a market of roughly 500 million people spanning the 27-nation European Union along with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The deadline has already produced visible shifts among major exchanges. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, withdrew its MiCA application in Greece and notified EU users it would suspend some services while pursuing a different regulatory route. The company said in a statement that it remains committed to the European market and expects to secure a MiCA license in the coming months.

Rival exchanges have moved to capture displaced users. OKX and Coinbase each announced bonuses of up to 8% of total deposits and transfers for new users in the days following Binance’s announcement. OKX’s Europe CEO, Erald Ghoos, said he expects roughly 80% of crypto companies to be unable to meet MiCA’s requirements and to exit the EU as a result.

UAE’s Crypto-Specific Regulator Cited as Key Advantage

Heaver said many founders are drawn to the UAE because its regulatory framework was built specifically for digital assets. Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) was created to oversee the crypto sector exclusively, while many European regulators also supervise banks and traditional financial institutions alongside crypto firms.

That structural difference, Heaver said, allows companies to be established in days rather than months. A UAE license also provides access to markets across Asia, North Africa and what she described as the broader global south, a region she put at roughly 4 billion potential customers. Heaver said she expects the trend to have economic effects on Europe if it continues:

“I can see a brain drain. I can see a tax drain and also the loss of jobs,” Heaver said. “If a founder with a couple of exits established in the UAE, it’s going to bring new jobs to the UAE. It’s going to create opportunities in the UAE […] I feel Europe missed that opportunity.”

Lawyer Questions Influence of Traditional Finance on MiCA

Heaver, who spent 13 years working on legislation for major oil and gas companies before entering the crypto industry, questioned whether traditional financial institutions had outsized influence over how MiCA was drafted. Heaver said:

“I spent 13 years writing laws for the largest oil and gas companies before I moved into crypto. When you get the foxes to write the laws about protecting chickens, you get MiCA.”