Paymonade, founded in Singapore, successfully passed the new European encryption regulations, but ab

Paymonade, founded in Singapore, successfully passed the new European encryption regulations-about 90% of European encryption companies failed to meet the standards

Damon Technology (Europe) Co., Ltd.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein, Singapore-July 16, 2026-The European crypto industry is undergoing one of the most intense regulatory consolidations in the financial sector in recent years. Before the European Union's Cryptographic Asset Markets Regulation (MiCA) came into full effect, there were an estimated more than 3000 registered crypto companies in the region, operating under separate regulatory frameworks across countries. With the MiCA transition period ending on July 1, 2026, only 280 companies currently hold full authorization from the European Economic Area-which means that about 90% of the companies operating previously have failed to complete the conversion. They have either withdrawn from the European market, reorganized, or continued to operate without permission, which violates EU law.

Damon Technology (Europe) AG (operating under the name Paymonade) successfully crossed this threshold and obtained a MiCA license issued by the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority of Liechtenstein. The authorization allows Paymonade to provide regulated crypto asset services in all 30 member states of the European Economic Area with a single passable license.

Even for the largest and most resourced participants in the industry, this threshold is extremely high. An independent analysis of public registries shows that only a few of the top 100 crypto exchanges in the world by trading volume currently hold MiCA authorizations. As of the date of this press release, many of the world's major exchanges and at least one of the world's largest stablecoin issuers by market capitalisation have not yet appeared on the register.

Paymonade is a regulated two-way fiat and cryptocurrency exchange infrastructure provider, serving payment service providers, financial technology companies and cryptocurrency exchanges that require euro and other fiat settlement channels. As of the first half of 2026, Paymonade has an annualized transaction volume operating rate of US$1.8 billion, making it one of the larger fiat exchange infrastructure providers operating under the new MiCA framework-especially in areas that serve institutional customers such as cryptocurrency exchanges, banks and financial technology companies who need seamless and passable euro and fiat settlement throughout the European Economic Area. Its main customers include some of the world's largest cryptocurrency trading platforms.

Paymonade was founded and led by Calvin Cheng. Calvin Cheng is a citizen of Singapore. He was a nominated member of the Singapore Parliament and is currently the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Singapore. He has extensive experience in the highly regulated financial technology sector, owns a Swiss digital asset company that has joined VQF, a self-regulatory organization recognized by the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, and is also a founding shareholder of Longbridge Securities, one of Asia's largest online securities brokers. Paymonade's authorization means that a Singapore and Singapore company has joined the MiCA register, which is still dominated by European and U.S. entities.

"The era of light regulation encryption is coming to an end," said Calvin Cheng, founder and chairman of Paymonade. "At a time when the vast majority of companies in our industry have not yet met the standards, the successful acquisition of this license demonstrates the strength of the institution we have built. We expect the next generation of leaders in digital assets to be companies that combine innovation with regulatory trust, and we want to be one of them."

"Banks, fintech companies and exchanges are increasingly looking to work with a regulated infrastructure partner that can operate across Europe rather than negotiate on a market-by-market basis," said Milos Winter Bogdanovic, CEO of Damon Technology (Europe) AG. "We are in active discussions with exchanges, fintech companies and banks seeking to comply with European fiat infrastructure."

Paymonade said it plans to double the number of European employees in the next 12 months as new institutional customers join and increase annualized transaction volume to CHF 6 billion per year by mid-2027.

About Paymonade

Paymonade is the operating name of Damon Technology (Europe) AG, headquartered in Liechtenstein. It is a regulated digital asset infrastructure provider focusing on the two-way exchange of fiat and cryptocurrencies, corporate payment solutions and compliant crypto infrastructure. Through a scalable and regulated infrastructure, the company enables banks, fintech companies, payment service providers and cryptocurrency exchanges to connect traditional finance with the digital asset economy, covering the entire European Economic Area.