Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 31 May 2023, governs markets in crypto-assets in the European Union, and the remaining part of MiCA entered into application on December 30, 2024, covering crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) and other crypto-asset offerors. That December 30 trigger closed the EU’s habit of leaving crypto policy to 27 national interpretations and switched on a single rulebook covering issuance, custody, trading, and market abuse across the bloc. The regulation routes supervision through the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and national competent authorities such as Germany’s BaFin, France’s AMF, Luxembourg’s CSSF, and Italy’s CONSOB.
The pages below map each application date to the actor it triggers, the capital each CASP must hold, and the dual-supervisor mechanism that pulls significant stablecoins out of national hands and into the EBA’s.
Key Takeaways
- MiCA was published in the EU Official Journal on 9 June 2023 as Regulation (EU) 2023/1114.
- Title III (asset-referenced tokens) and Title IV (e-money tokens) began to apply on 30 June 2024.
- Title V (CASP authorization) plus the rest of the regulation began to apply on 30 December 2024.
- CASPs must hold permanent capital between EUR 50,000 and EUR 150,000, plus one-quarter of prior-year fixed overheads.
- Existing CASPs operating under national law have until 1 July 2026 to obtain MiCA authorization.
- The European Banking Authority takes direct supervision of any ART, or EMT classified as significant under at least 3 of the criteria set out in MiCA.
What MiCA Is and What It Covers
Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJ L 150, 9 June 2023, pp. 40 to 205. MiCA institutes uniform EU market rules for crypto-assets that are not currently regulated by existing financial services legislation. Crypto-assets already regulated under MiFID II (such as security tokens), banking law, or insurance law fall outside MiCA’s scope and remain governed by their existing frameworks.
The regulation applies to natural and legal persons and certain other undertakings that are engaged in the issuance, public offer and admission to trading of crypto-assets, or that provide services related to crypto-assets in the Union. The practical effect: if a firm issues tokens to EU residents or runs a crypto-asset trading platform serving EU clients, MiCA governs it unless an express carve-out applies.
MiCA creates three legally distinct categories of crypto-asset and separate regulatory titles governing who must register, what they must disclose, how much capital they must hold, and which regulator watches them. Each title carries its own application date, which is why the compliance calendar matters as much as the substance.
The structural choice to legislate by token type rather than by activity is the biggest break from the US enforcement model, where the SEC has applied the same securities test to almost every offering. The EU’s bet is that a tokenomics-aware classification produces clearer outcomes than case-by-case enforcement. For a side-by-side view of how that contrast is playing out, see SEC and CFTC crypto enforcement data, which tracks the US approach against the EU’s structured rulebook.
The MiCA Application Timeline
The first phase of MiCA, effective from 30 June 2024, regulates the authorization and supervision of asset-referenced tokens (ART) and e-money tokens (EMT). The second phase, effective from 30 December 2024, covers other crypto-assets and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs). The staggered timeline gave the market and regulators roughly six months between the two phases to build supervisory capacity.
| Date | Titles | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 9 June 2023 | Publication | Regulation enters into force; 18-month implementation period begins |
| 30 June 2024 | III and IV | ART issuers and EMT issuers |
| 30 December 2024 | II, V, VI, and VII | CASPs, other crypto-asset offerors |
| 1 July 2026 | End of transitional regime | Existing CASPs must hold MiCA authorization |
Source: MiCA Regulation, Hogan Lovells MiCA Status Update
The remaining part of MiCA entered into application on December 30, 2024. It regulates the public offering of crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs in the EU, as well as the crypto-asset service providers (CASPs). The right question at each date is which title applies, because the answer determines whether a firm needs an issuer authorization (ART or EMT), a CASP licence, or only a white-paper notification. Those three regimes carry materially different capital, governance, and supervisory consequences. Those three regimes track the three asset categories MiCA defines, which is the next mechanism to unpack.
The Three Categories of Crypto-Asset
The three categories of crypto-assets under MiCA are: EMTs (E-Money Tokens) which are crypto assets that are backed by a single official fiat currency; Asset-Referenced Tokens which may represent a value, a right, or a mix of both, stabilizing their value by using one or more official currencies; and Other Crypto-Assets, the catch-all category for tokens not fitting the first two groups, such as utility tokens. The category a token falls into determines which authorization, capital, and reserve obligations apply.
Asset-Referenced Tokens (ART)
Asset-referenced tokens peg their value to one or more official currencies, commodities, or other crypto-assets. That multi-basket structure distinguishes them from EMTs, which reference exactly one fiat currency.
E-Money Tokens (EMT)
E-money tokens are backed by a single official fiat currency. Issuers must hold reserve assets fully covering outstanding token supply, and holders must be able to redeem tokens at par on demand.
Key finding: Per LegalNodes, citing Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, token offerings to fewer than 150 people per Member State, or that has a total consideration over a 12-month period that does not exceed EUR 1 million, may be exempt from the white-paper publication requirement. The exemption applies per state, so 100 buyers in each of 27 states crosses the threshold.
Other Crypto-Assets
Utility tokens and any token that does not fit the EMT or ART definitions fall into the third category. Title II of MiCA governs their public offering, requiring a white paper in most cases but applying lighter obligations than those imposed on ART or EMT issuers.
Title III: Asset-Referenced Tokens
Issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMTs) are required to hold the relevant authorisation to carry out activities in the EU. Authorization comes from the home national competent authority (NCA), and holders of the authorization gain an EU-wide passport for issuance and trading.
Beyond authorization, ART issuers must comply with a set of obligations that mirror many of the requirements applied to money-market funds under EU investment law:
- Authorization required from the home NCA before any public offer or admission to trading.
- White paper notified to the NCA and published before the public offer, effective after 20 working days.
- Reserve of assets segregated from the issuer’s own funds and subject to diversification rules.
- The EBA has published Guidelines on liquidity stress testing under MiCAR, Guidelines on recovery plans under MiCAR, Guidelines on redemption plans under MiCAR, and Guidelines on internal governance arrangements for issuers of ARTs under MiCAR.
- Sustainability disclosures covering energy consumption and consensus mechanisms.
The EBA’s guidelines on recovery and redemption plans establish a structured exit path for ART issuers, an obligation with no equivalent in earlier crypto law anywhere in the EU. The recovery-plan requirement signals that the EU treats large multi-currency stablecoins as systemically relevant, applying a tool first designed for failing banks to issuers without a banking licence. EMTs sit in a tighter regime, since only credit institutions or e-money institutions can issue them. Title IV covers that path.
Title IV: E-Money Tokens
E-money tokens must be issued by either an authorized credit institution or an authorized e-money institution under EU law. That issuer-type requirement links MiCA directly to the existing EU e-money framework, meaning only institutions already licensed under EU financial law can issue EMTs.
Key EMT obligations include:
- Issuer must hold a credit institution or e-money institution authorization under EU law.
- Holders have a 1:1 redemption right at par value against the referenced fiat currency.
- Funds received in exchange for EMTs must be held under safeguarding rules consistent with EU e-money rules.
- Algorithmic stablecoins (tokens that maintain value through algorithmic supply adjustments rather than reserve assets) cannot qualify as either an EMT or an ART under MiCA.
- The white paper and NCA notification flow mirrors the ART process.
The prohibition on algorithmic stablecoins is categorical: no algorithmic mechanism can substitute for actual reserve assets. The Terra/LUNA collapse that preceded MiCA’s accelerated implementation timeline drew the line for regulators: a stabilisation algorithm that failed during a single redemption cascade convinced legislators that reserve assets, not code, are what make a token redeemable at par. With issuance rules locked down for both stablecoin types, attention shifts to the firms that move tokens between users. The CASP regime under Title V governs them.
Title V: Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) Authorization
The remaining part of MiCA entered into application on December 30, 2024. It regulates the public offering of crypto-assets other than ARTs and EMTs in the EU, as well as the crypto-asset service providers (CASPs). Any firm providing any of the ten regulated crypto-asset services in the EU must hold MiCA CASP authorization unless it already holds an equivalent authorization under another EU financial services regime.
The 10 Regulated Crypto-Asset Services
The crypto-asset services include: custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients; operating a trading platform for crypto-assets; exchange of crypto-assets for funds; exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets; execution of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients; placing of crypto-assets; reception and transmission of orders for crypto-assets on behalf of clients; providing investment advice on crypto-assets; providing portfolio management on crypto-assets; and providing transfer services for crypto-assets on behalf of clients.
A firm that provides only one of those ten services must hold MiCA authorization. A firm providing multiple services holds one licence but falls into the capital class corresponding to the highest-tier service it provides.
Capital Classes (Article 67)
CASPs are subject to tiered capital thresholds, as set out in Article 67 and Annex IV MiCA. The thresholds reflect the risk profile of each service class:
| Class | Permanent capital | Services covered |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | EUR 50,000 | Investment advice on crypto-assets; portfolio management on crypto-assets |
| 2 | EUR 125,000 | Operating a trading platform; exchange of crypto-assets for funds; exchange of crypto-assets for other crypto-assets |
| 3 | EUR 150,000 | Custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients |
Source: MiCA Article 67 and Annex IV, Hacken MiCA capital tier analysis
CASPs must hold the higher of their permanent minimum capital (ranging from EUR 50,000 to EUR 150,000 depending on services) or one-quarter of prior-year fixed overheads. The fixed-overheads test is a backstop: a CASP with high operating costs but low statutory capital must top up to cover one quarter of those overheads.
Worth noting: Per MiCA Article 67 and Annex IV, as analysed by Hacken, EUR 50,000 is applicable to advisory services in relation to crypto-assets and to portfolio management services. EUR 125,000 is applicable to the operation of trading platforms and the exchange of crypto-assets. EUR 150,000 is applicable to high-impact functions such as custody and administration of crypto-assets.
Organizational Requirements
Beyond capital, MiCA CASP applicants must demonstrate governance structures proportionate to the risk of their services. The core requirements include: at least one EU-resident director, a fit-and-proper assessment for all directors and key function holders, documented AML/CTF procedures aligned with the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive, a conflicts-of-interest policy, and a business continuity plan. These requirements align CASP authorization closely with the licensing standards applied to investment firms under MiFID II.
CASPs that already hold a MiFID II, PSD2, or e-money authorization can benefit from simplified authorization procedures, effectively passporting their existing regulated status into the MiCA CASP regime. The history of crypto regulation traces how the bloc moved from VASP registrations to today’s unified rulebook.
Title II: Public Offerings of Other Crypto-Assets
Title II governs the public offering of crypto-assets that are neither ARTs nor EMTs. Any person wishing to offer such tokens to the public in the EU must publish a white paper, which must be notified to the relevant NCA before publication.
Token offerings to fewer than 150 people per Member State, or that have a total consideration over a 12-month period that does not exceed EUR 1 million, may be exempt from the white-paper publication requirement. Two narrow carve-outs also apply: offerings made exclusively to qualified investors, and offerings where each buyer acquires tokens above a high per-ticket threshold.
The white paper itself must contain prescribed information about the issuer, the project, the rights attached to the token, the technology used, and the risks. Unlike prospectuses under the EU Prospectus Regulation, MiCA white papers carry no pre-approval requirement from a regulator; they are notified and published, and the NCA retains power to require amendments.
Title VI: Market Abuse Rules
Title VI imports a market-abuse regime for crypto-assets that mirrors the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) applied to traditional securities. The rules apply to any crypto-asset admitted to trading on a CASP-operated platform.
Three prohibited behaviours:
- Insider dealing: trading on inside information that has not been publicly disclosed.
- Unlawful disclosure of inside information: sharing inside information outside the normal exercise of employment, a profession, or a duty.
- Market manipulation: conduct intended to artificially distort the price or volume of a traded crypto-asset.
Issuers must disclose inside information as soon as possible and maintain insider lists. CASPs operating trading platforms must implement monitoring systems capable of detecting suspicious transactions or orders and must report suspicious activity to the NCA. Importing MAR wholesale signals that the EU plans to hold crypto venues to the same surveillance expectations as regulated stock exchanges. The next layer up is reserved for the small set of issuers whose tokens cross the EU’s significance thresholds.
The Significant ART/EMT Regime
The dual-supervisor mechanism is the most technically distinctive feature of MiCA’s stablecoin rules. For Significant ARTs, the EBA takes over direct supervision of issuers at the EU level from the home competent authority. A token reaches “significant” status when its issuer meets at least three of the criteria set out in MiCA, elaborated in EBA technical advice.
| Threshold | Trigger value |
|---|---|
| Holders | more than 10 million |
| Value of issued tokens, market capitalisation, or reserve assets | over EUR 5 billion |
| Daily transactions | more than 2.5 million |
| Daily transaction volume | EUR 500 million in daily transaction volume on average |
| International scale and interconnectedness | Issuer active internationally and interconnected with the financial system |
Source: EBA Technical Advice on MiCAR Significance Criteria
Once classified as significant, issuers are subject to higher capital requirements, with at least 60% of reserve assets deposited at multiple credit institutions. The EBA and the home NCA share supervisory responsibility for significant EMTs issued by e-money institutions, with the EBA leading on compliance with the additional requirements specific to significant status.
The 60% multi-bank deposit rule gives the regime real teeth: An issuer that hits the significance thresholds can no longer concentrate reserves at one custodian, even an EU-licensed bank. The handoff between national and EU supervisors is one slice of a four-layer architecture that includes ESMA, the ECB, and the NCAs themselves; mapping how those layers interact is essential context for the EU MiCA market data picture.
Who Supervises MiCA: ESMA, EBA, ECB, and the NCAs
MiCA divides supervisory responsibility across four layers: ESMA, EBA, the ECB, and national competent authorities in each member state.
ESMA
Articles 109 and 110 of the MiCA Regulation empower ESMA to publish a central register of crypto-asset white papers, authorised crypto-asset service providers, and non-compliant entities by 30 December 2024. ESMA coordinates supervisory convergence across the national competent authorities and issues binding technical standards covering topics ranging from disclosure requirements to the format of white papers. ESMA (in close cooperation with EBA, EIOPA, and the ECB) consulted with the public on a range of technical standards that will be published sequentially in three packages.
EBA
EBA develops the technical standards and guidelines implementing these requirements from the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR). For standard (non-significant) ART and EMT issuers, the home NCA remains the primary supervisor; the EBA provides the technical standards those NCAs apply. For significant issuers, the EBA steps into direct supervision.
NCAs by Member State
National competent authorities (NCAs) responsible for MiCA enforcement include BaFin in Germany, the AMF and ACPR in France, CSSF in Luxembourg, CONSOB in Italy, Banco de España in Spain, and the Central Bank of Ireland. Each NCA processes CASP and ART/EMT authorization applications from issuers domiciled in its member state. A single authorization granted by any NCA carries EU-wide passporting rights.
ESMA coordinates supervisory convergence across NCAs and maintains the EU-wide central register. A firm authorized by CSSF in Luxembourg can, subject to notification, provide MiCA-regulated services in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, or any other member state without seeking separate authorization.
The Transitional Window for Existing CASPs
Member States will have the option of implementing transitional measures allowing entities or undertakings already providing crypto-asset services under applicable law in their jurisdictions to continue doing so during the transitional phase. Not all member states adopted transitional arrangements; firms in member states that did not must seek full MiCA authorization immediately.
MiCA includes a transitional regime for CASPs that offered their services prior to December 30, 2024, granting them until July 1, 2026, to become authorized by their competent authority as a CASP. The transitional window is member-state-specific in its procedure but uniform in its sunset: 1 July 2026. After that date, no firm may provide MiCA-regulated crypto-asset services in the EU without a valid MiCA CASP authorization.
Firms currently operating under national crypto-asset registration schemes (such as VASP registrations under the EU’s AMLD5 implementation) are in scope for the transitional window but are not automatically grandfathered. They must apply to their NCA, pass the fit-and-proper and capital tests, and receive a formal authorization before the deadline. Those that miss the deadline face the practical consequence of market exit or relocation outside the EU; the spot trading venues most exposed are visible in the crypto exchange market share data by EU footprint.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto-Assets, the short name for Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on markets in crypto-assets. It is the first EU-wide crypto rulebook and replaces 27 separate national approaches with a single authorization valid across all member states.
MiCA was published in the Official Journal of the European Union OJ L 150, 9 June 2023. The first phase, effective from 30 June 2024, covers ART and EMT issuers. The second phase, effective from 30 December 2024, covers other crypto-assets and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs).
Any crypto-asset service provider (CASP) operating in the EU must hold MiCA authorization from a national competent authority. Issuers of asset-referenced tokens or e-money tokens also need separate authorization. Credit institutions, MiFID investment firms, and e-money institutions can use simplified procedures to passport existing licences into the CASP framework.
EUR 50,000 is applicable to advisory services in relation to crypto-assets and to portfolio management services. EUR 125,000 is applicable to the operation of trading platforms and the exchange of crypto-assets. EUR 150,000 is applicable to high-impact functions such as custody and administration of crypto-assets. Each CASP must also hold one-quarter of prior-year fixed overheads if that figure exceeds the class minimum.
MiCA includes a transitional regime for CASPs that offered their services prior to December 30, 2024, granting them until July 1, 2026, to become authorized by their competent authority as a CASP. Firms must apply before that deadline; member states have discretion over the local procedure but not the sunset date.
National competent authorities responsible for MiCA enforcement include BaFin in Germany, the AMF and ACPR in France, CSSF in Luxembourg, CONSOB in Italy, Banco de Espana in Spain, and the Central Bank of Ireland. ESMA coordinates and runs the central register. The EBA takes direct supervision of significant ART and EMT issuers.
Conclusion
The remaining part of MiCA entered into application on December 30, 2024. With both phases now live, the regulation touches every firm issuing tokens to EU residents or providing any of ten regulated crypto-asset services to EU clients. The framework delivers two things at once: uniform protection for consumers across 27 member states, and a single authorization that grants EU-wide market access to any firm that qualifies.
The next live deadline is July 1, 2026, when the transitional window for existing CASPs closes. ESMA and EBA are still finalising technical standards in parallel, meaning compliance teams face a moving target even for obligations that are already legally in force. MiCA fits the crisis-to-license pattern CoinLaw has documented across more than a dozen regulatory events: the FTX collapse accelerated a rulebook in draft since 2020, with political agreement reached within nine months. Firms that engaged early secured authorizations months ahead of peers that waited for final standards.
The firms most exposed to the 1 July 2026 deadline are spot exchanges and custodians that built EU footprints under national VASP regimes. crypto exchange market data shows where those operators sit.
