Cregis CEO Shawn Yan discussed MiCA's institutional impact and digital asset infrastructure in an interview published July 20, 2026. The interview followed MiCA's July 1, 2026 enforcement deadline, when approximately 210 crypto firms out of an estimated 3,000 that previously operated across the EU secured full authorization. Yan addressed operational challenges institutions face as spot crypto ETF trading volume crossed $2 trillion in early 2026, and a late-2025 survey found most institutional investors expect to double their digital asset exposure within three years. Cregis, which serves over 4,000 clients across 50+ countries, provides custody and wallet infrastructure for banks, brokers, and payment firms managing digital assets under the new regulatory framework.
Cregis CEO Explains MiCA's July 1 Operational Milestone
Yan stated that MiCA's July 1 deadline represented an operational milestone rather than solely a legal one. He said clearer rules make infrastructure needs more visible. According to Yan, institutions previously delayed plans due to undefined regulatory paths. After July 1, conversations shifted from "Should we participate?" to "How should we build this properly?" Yan described this as the point where institutions stopped treating digital assets as an experiment and started considering them as an operational capability.
Cregis Addresses Institutional Asset Segregation Challenges
Yan explained that asset segregation and auditability become difficult when multiple teams access the same wallet setup. He said the technology itself is typically not the hardest part. Trouble starts when finance, operations, treasury, and compliance all need different access to one wallet setup. Yan stated that funds from different business lines get mixed together, determining ownership turns into guesswork, and manual transaction matching consumes hours weekly. Cregis uses master and sub-account structures to keep business lines separated, maps deposit addresses to individual users for automatic reconciliation, and implements role-based approval workflows. Yan said the goal is designing workflows where the compliant way is also the easiest way to operate.
Shawn Yan Describes MPC Wallet Governance Architecture
Yan described MPC (multi-party computation) as a mature approach for managing signing authority. He said MPC distributes signing authority so no individual can move assets alone, removing a single point of operational failure. Yan stated that MPC's bigger contribution is governance rather than security. He explained that overall custody system security depends on broader architecture including key protection, approval management, system isolation, and operational risk controls. Cregis offers MPC-based WaaS (Wallet-as-a-Service) platform and Cregis Trust Vault, which adds policy enforcement, approval workflows, and operational controls above the wallet layer. According to Yan, the objective is ensuring no individual can move client assets alone, every action is governed by policy, and every decision is fully traceable.
FX Brokers Drive Faster MiCA Adoption Than Exchanges
Yan stated that FX brokers and mid-market fintechs are moving faster under MiCA than exchanges. He explained that FX brokers' clients across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America now expect stablecoin deposits and withdrawals as standard because those rails beat traditional banking for cross-border flows. Yan said a wire transfer that takes two days and a percentage cut is hard to justify when a competitor settles in minutes. A broker that cannot offer stablecoin services loses accounts, making this a revenue question before a technology one. Payment service providers (PSPs) and mid-market fintechs face similar pressure because money movement is central to their business.
Forex Brokers Require Different Infrastructure Than Crypto Exchanges
Yan explained that crypto exchanges build nearly everything themselves, including matching engines, wallet layers, and deposit rails, seeking raw performance and deep control at scale. Brokers grew up leaning on distribution, client acquisition, and risk handling, with platforms bought from specialists. Yan said brokers need infrastructure that can integrate with existing CRM systems, with order matching and reconciliation built in, plus governance for finance and operations teams. He stated that exchanges reject black boxes while brokers reject solutions requiring building everything from scratch.
Institutions Transition From Third-Party Providers to In-House Operations
Yan described a common operational pattern where institutions initially connect to third-party providers for deposits and withdrawals. As volume climbs, three pressures emerge: percentage-based fees become noticeable, firms become uncomfortable leaving larger balances with third parties, and clients expecting near-instant settlement become less tolerant of delays. Yan said this is when conversations shift from "How do we access digital assets?" to "How do we operate this ourselves?" He stated this pattern has repeated across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Once institutions reach a certain scale, they start thinking about owning more of the wallet layer while bringing approvals, treasury management, and operational controls in-house.
Europe Gains Advantage From Asia and Middle East Market Experience
Yan stated that Europe is not behind in sophistication and that European institutions tend to be among the most disciplined regarding governance and operational planning. He said parts of Asia and the Middle East entered this phase earlier, accumulating more hands-on experience running digital asset infrastructure at scale. According to Yan, this gives Europe an advantage because institutions can learn from markets that moved earlier. He stated that organizations transitioning most smoothly align payments, operations, compliance, and finance around a shared objective from the beginning, treating the process as an operational transformation rather than a technology deployment.
Cregis Develops Products Based on Industry Structural Changes
Yan explained that nine years of building through regulatory transitions taught Cregis to be skeptical of product roadmaps beginning in meeting rooms instead of with real operational problems. He said solving a problem for one customer does not automatically mean it should become a product. The question Cregis asks is whether that problem reflects where the market is heading. Yan stated that if the same operational challenge emerges across different types of institutions or regions, that indicates an industry shift rather than a one-off request. Cregis's platform evolved from wallet infrastructure to fund orchestration as institutions needed better control across multiple chains, then custody capabilities expanded as governance requirements became more demanding.
Shawn Yan Outlines Digital Asset Infrastructure Evolution
Yan stated that digital assets are increasingly becoming part of the financial infrastructure institutions operate daily rather than a standalone product. Once deposits and withdrawals run smoothly, needs grow in two directions: deeper governance with richer controls, cleaner reporting, and monitoring that scales with volumes and scrutiny; and treasury sophistication with automated sweeping, visibility across entities and chains, and smart settlement routing. Yan said firms now hold real digital asset balances as a structural part of their business. He stated that momentum sits in areas tied to genuine economic activity because those fix inefficiencies people experience daily, with money flowing toward whatever is faster, safer, or cheaper.
FAQ
What did Cregis CEO Shawn Yan say about MiCA's July 1, 2026 deadline?
Shawn Yan stated that MiCA's July 1, 2026 deadline represented an operational milestone where institutional conversations shifted from "Should we participate?" to "How should we build this properly?" He explained that approximately 210 crypto firms out of an estimated 3,000 that previously operated across the EU secured full authorization by that date.
Why are FX brokers adopting digital asset infrastructure faster than crypto exchanges under MiCA?
Yan explained that FX brokers' clients across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America now expect stablecoin deposits and withdrawals as standard because those rails beat traditional banking for cross-border flows. He stated that brokers unable to offer stablecoin services lose accounts, making this a revenue question before a technology one.
What infrastructure challenges do institutions face with digital asset custody according to Cregis?
Yan stated that trouble starts when finance, operations, treasury, and compliance all need different access to one wallet setup. He explained that funds from different business lines get mixed together, determining ownership turns into guesswork, and manual transaction matching consumes hours weekly. Cregis addresses this with master and sub-account structures, mapped deposit addresses for automatic reconciliation, and role-based approval workflows.
