The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an Opinion on 08 October 2026 regarding services related to non-MiCAR-compliant asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The expectations set out by ESMA will be duly considered by the FMA in its supervisory activities.
The ESMA Opinion specifies supervisory expectations for services related to asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and e-money tokens (EMTs), also known as stablecoins, that do not comply with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCAR; Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation).
ESMA states that Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) authorised under MiCAR should not provide crypto-asset services related to non-MiCAR-compliant stablecoins to clients in the European Union.
This supervisory expectation applies to all crypto-asset services covered by MiCAR and applies irrespective of whether the respective services are provided on a standalone basis or in combination with other services.
CASPs should neither maintain nor establish new access for clients in the European Union to non-MiCAR-compliant ARTs or EMTs, nor facilitate such access through their services. They should implement appropriate technical, contractual and organisational measures to prevent the availability of such non-MiCAR-compliant ARTs or EMTs in the European Union.
Further steps
The FMA will assess, as part of its supervisory activities, whether authorised CASPs provide crypto-asset services related to non-MiCAR-compliant ARTs or EMTs or maintain or facilitate their availability to clients in the European Union through their services.
Where existing positions are identified, they will be required to be remediated as quickly as possible. In line with the ESMA Opinion, such remediation must be completed no later than three months from its publication date.
Further information can be found in the Opinion on services related to “unauthorised stablecoins” under the following link ESMA sets out supervisory expectations on services related to unauthorised stablecoins).