MiCA: the European framework for crypto-assets

Before MiCA, a crypto-asset exchange in Europe had to deal with different rules in each country, and in several of them there were hardly any rules at all. The European regulation on markets in crypto-assets replaced that patchwork with a single text, applied directly in all 27 member states.

This article explains what MiCA covers, whom it binds, which dates have already passed and what is still under discussion. It is based on the text of the regulation, in the version published by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and on official documents from ESMA and the European Banking Authority (EBA), consulted on October 8, 2026. The specific rules for stablecoins are in Stablecoin regulation: an international overview and are not repeated here in detail.

What MiCA is

MiCA stands for Markets in Crypto-Assets. Its official name is Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. Because it is a regulation, not a directive, it does not need to be transposed into law by each country: it applies directly in all of them (MiCA, art. 149).

According to Article 1, the regulation creates uniform rules on five fronts: transparency in offerings and in the admission of crypto-assets to trading; authorization and supervision of issuers and service providers; protection of crypto-asset buyers; protection of the providers’ clients; and prevention of market abuse (MiCA, art. 1).

For MiCA, a crypto-asset is a digital representation of a value or a right that can be transferred and stored electronically using distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain, or similar technology (MiCA, art. 3).

What is left out

The scope is broad, but it has clear limits (MiCA, art. 2):

• Unique and non-fungible crypto-assets, such as many NFTs, are excluded.
• Financial instruments, such as tokenized shares or bonds, remain under capital markets rules. Bank deposits, insurance and pension products are also excluded.
• Central banks and other public authorities, when acting as authorities, are not covered.

Decentralized finance (DeFi), where there is no issuer or company acting as intermediary, did not get a regime of its own in the text. Article 142 required the European Commission to assess, in a report due by December 30, 2024, whether and how to regulate this segment, as well as crypto-asset lending and NFTs (MiCA, art. 142). The newsroom did not analyze that report for this article.

Three types of crypto-asset

MiCA divides crypto-assets into three groups, each with its own rules:

• Asset-referenced token (ART): aims to maintain a stable value by referencing other values or rights, or a basket of them, including currencies.
• E-money token (EMT): aims to maintain a stable value by referencing a single official currency. This is the category of stablecoins pegged to the euro or the dollar.
• Other crypto-assets: everything that is neither an ART nor an EMT, including utility tokens, which give access to a good or service from the issuer.

Issuers of ARTs and EMTs need authorization and follow reserve and redemption rules. When one of these tokens is classified as “significant”, supervision of part of the obligations passes to the EBA (MiCA, art. 117).

Public offerings and the white paper

To offer to the public in the EU a crypto-asset that is neither an ART nor an EMT, the offeror must be a legal entity and must draw up, notify to the regulator and publish a crypto-asset white paper (MiCA, art. 4). There are exemptions, for example for offerings to fewer than 150 people per country, offerings of up to 1 million euros over 12 months and offerings only to qualified investors.

The white paper is not approved by the regulator, and the document itself must say so on its first page. It must also clearly warn that the crypto-asset may lose its value in part or in full, may not be transferable or liquid and is not covered by deposit guarantee or investor compensation schemes (MiCA, art. 6).

For crypto-assets that were already traded before December 30, 2024, platforms have until December 31, 2027, to ensure that a white paper exists, in the cases where the regulation requires one (MiCA, art. 143).

The license for exchanges and custodians

MiCA uses the term crypto-asset service provider (CASP) for anyone offering services to third parties, such as custody, operating a trading platform, exchanging crypto-assets for currency or for other crypto-assets, executing and transmitting orders, placing, advice, portfolio management and transfer (MiCA, art. 3).

No one may provide these services in the EU without a license (MiCA, art. 59). There are two routes:

• Authorization as a CASP, granted by the national regulator. The firm must have its registered office in a member state where it provides part of its services, effective management in the EU and at least one director resident in the EU.
• Notification, for financial entities that already hold a license, such as banks, investment firms and e-money institutions. A bank, for example, must notify the regulator at least 40 working days before starting (MiCA, art. 60).

The license works like a passport. An exchange authorized in one country can serve clients across the bloc without a physical presence in the others. It only needs to inform its regulator where it intends to operate; it can start no later than 15 days afterward (MiCA, art. 65).

What the license requires

• Minimum capital. The provider must have prudential safeguards, in own funds or insurance, of at least the higher of one quarter of the previous year’s fixed overheads and a floor ranging from 50,000 euros (advice, order execution) to 125,000 euros (custody and exchange) and 150,000 euros (operating a trading platform) (MiCA, art. 67; Annex IV).
• Client assets protected. Anyone holding clients’ crypto-assets must protect their ownership rights, including in the event of insolvency, and may not use them on their own account. Clients’ money must be deposited with a bank or central bank by the end of the following business day, in an account separate from the firm’s (MiCA, art. 70).
• Protected name. Anyone who is not a CASP may not use a name or advertising that suggests they are.

Firms from outside the EU

A firm without a European license may only serve a client in the EU if the request comes exclusively on the client’s own initiative. If the firm makes any kind of offer, promotion or advertising in the EU, by any means, that exception no longer applies, even if the contract says otherwise (MiCA, art. 61).

Market abuse

MiCA prohibits insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation involving crypto-assets admitted to trading. The rule also applies to transactions carried out outside trading platforms and to acts committed outside the EU, as long as they involve those crypto-assets (MiCA, art. 86).

The timeline

Date	What happened
June 2023	The regulation enters into force, with deferred application
June 30, 2024	The ART and EMT (stablecoin) rules start to apply
December 30, 2024	The rest starts to apply, including CASP licenses
By July 1, 2026	End of the transition period for providers already operating
December 31, 2027	Deadline for white papers for crypto-assets traded before December 30, 2024

Sources: MiCA, art. 149 and art. 143.

The transition period

Article 143 allowed providers that were operating legally under national laws before December 30, 2024, to continue until July 1, 2026, or until they were granted or refused a license, whichever came first. Each country could shorten that period or not apply it. According to ESMA’s list, the choices ranged from 6 to 18 months: 6 months in the Netherlands, 12 months in Austria and 18 months in France, for example. ESMA itself cautions that some periods were reported by regulators and might not yet have been enshrined in national law (ESMA, list of transition periods).

The practical effect is that, since July 1, 2026, in no country of the bloc can a firm continue to provide crypto-asset services on the basis of the old regime alone.

How to check who is authorized

MiCA requires ESMA to maintain a public register of white papers, ART and EMT issuers, authorized providers and entities operating without complying with the rules (MiCA, art. 109).

For now, that register is interim and published as spreadsheets on the MiCA page of ESMA’s website, updated weekly. ESMA warns that the data comes from national regulators and may take time to appear, and that the white papers listed have not been reviewed or approved by any authority (ESMA, MiCA page).

In the October 7, 2026, version downloaded by the newsroom, the spreadsheet of authorized providers had 370 entries. The most frequent home countries were Germany (103), France (36) and the Netherlands (29). The spreadsheet of non-compliant entities had 173 entries, the EMT issuers spreadsheet listed 25 issuers, and the ART issuers spreadsheet was empty. These numbers change every week.

Money laundering and the travel rule

MiCA goes hand in hand with another rule, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, which extended to crypto-asset service providers the obligation to send data on the sender and recipient of each transfer, the so-called travel rule. The EBA published guidelines on how to apply this rule, including for transfers to wallets controlled by the users themselves, in force since December 30, 2024 (EBA, July 2024).

What may change

On December 4, 2025, the European Commission proposed a market integration package that, among other things, transfers to ESMA the direct supervision of crypto-asset service providers, currently handled by national regulators. ESMA said it was ready to take on the role (ESMA, December 4, 2025). The proposal depends on the European Parliament and the Council. As of October 8, 2026, the newsroom had not found any final approval.

What this means for people in Brazil

MiCA does not apply in Brazil. An exchange licensed in Europe is not, for that reason, authorized to operate in Brazil, and the reverse is also true. In Brazil, crypto-asset exchanges are authorized by the Banco Central do Brasil (the country’s central bank), under its own rules and with transition periods ending at the end of 2026, as shown in Crypto-asset regulation in Brazil: who supervises what.

The European model is still a useful reference. It shows the kind of protection a complete regime offers: licensing, minimum capital, asset segregation, a white paper and penalties for manipulation. None of these rules prevents a crypto-asset’s price from falling, even to zero.

Key takeaways

• MiCA is a single regulation for all 27 countries, applying since December 30, 2024, and since June 30, 2024, for stablecoins.
• Exchanges and custodians need a license from a member state, which is valid throughout the EU; the transition period ended, at the latest, on July 1, 2026.
• Unique NFTs and tokenized securities are excluded, and DeFi without an intermediary did not get its own regime; direct supervision by ESMA is still only a proposal.
• To find out whether a firm is authorized, check ESMA’s register and the website of the regulator in its home country.