News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
Author of MiCA's technical standards and keeper of the register of authorised crypto-asset service providers and token issuers, none of which it supervises; the register itself states that no competent authority has reviewed the white papers it lists.
The European Union's securities markets authority, operating from Paris since 1 January 2011 under Regulation 1095/2010, with direct supervision of credit rating agencies, trade repositories, securitisation repositories, data reporting service providers, critical benchmarks and third-country central counterparties. Under MiCA it writes the technical standards, including the iXBRL format for white papers that applied from 23 December 2025 and the JSON schemas for order-book records, and maintains the register of authorised crypto-asset service providers and token issuers, but does not supervise those firms; national competent authorities do, and the register states that no competent authority has reviewed the white papers it lists. The Commission's package of 4 December 2025 would give it direct supervision of significant cross-border crypto-asset service providers, which is why the authority's convergence work is currently the main constraint on regulatory arbitrage between member states.
Developments in which European Securities and Markets Authority is a named party, newest first.
The European Commission opened a two-part consultation on revising the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation in May 2026, with responses due by 30 August 2026.
Luxembourg's CSSF said the transitional period under which virtual asset service providers could continue operating in the European Union without a MiCA authorisation ended on 1 July 2026. Firms without a crypto-asset service provider authorisation must wind down EU activity in an orderly way: they may not onboard new customers or market products, and may only allow existing customers to convert holdings into legal tender, transfer them to an authorised platform or move them into self-custody.
The remaining titles of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 took effect, requiring firms providing crypto-asset services in the European Union to be authorised and supervised. National regimes were replaced by a single set of rules with passporting across member states, subject to transitional arrangements set by each state.
Titles III and IV of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 took effect, making authorisation, reserve and redemption requirements binding on issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The European Banking Authority subsequently urged issuers and distributors to align with the rules, noting that some tokens on offer in the EU were not yet compliant.
The Council presidency and European Parliament negotiators agreed a provisional text of MiCA, covering issuers of asset-referenced and e-money tokens and crypto-asset service providers. The text required stablecoin issuers to hold a liquid reserve at a 1:1 ratio, set a three-month deadline for national authorities to decide on authorisation applications, and gave ESMA a register of non-compliant operators.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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