EU Securities Regulator Wants Crypto Platforms to Wind Down Non-MiCA Stablecoin Services

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued an opinion dated Oct. 8 saying licensed crypto platforms should stop serving stablecoins that lack authorization under the EU’s MiCA rules. It expects national regulators, the opinion’s main audience, to see that any leftover customer exposure is cleaned up within three months.

The opinion covers asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, the two MiCA categories that include stablecoins. It names no specific tokens. ESMA wrote that crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) “should not provide crypto-asset services” tied to ones that fall short of MiCA’s requirements, citing their duty under Article 66(1) to act “honestly, fairly and professionally” for clients.

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ESMA said supervisors should check whether a platform’s services, alone or combined, let EU clients buy, trade, swap or add to positions in such tokens. The services it named include trading platforms, exchange services, order execution, advice, transfers, custody and portfolio management. Warnings, disclosures and client acknowledgements would not be enough, ESMA said. It wants technical, contractual and organizational controls that stop EU clients from acquiring or adding to positions.

Where regulators find remaining “legacy exposures,” ESMA wants them to demand fixes quickly and “no later than three (3) months following the date of publication of this Opinion.” Counting from the opinion’s Oct. 8 date, that puts the outer limit at about Jan. 8, 2027.

Any services that continue should be limited to selling, converting, transferring or withdrawing, ESMA said, and be time-limited and closely supervised. Regulators may also allow narrow residual services, including safekeeping, to wind existing holdings down in an orderly way. New purchases, promotion, trading, active distribution and continued market availability are off the table.

ESMA argued that keeping such tokens available through licensed platforms would let them sidestep the redemption, reserve, governance and disclosure rules that authorized issuers must follow. That would tilt the field against compliant issuers and erode investor confidence, it said.

The opinion builds on a January 2025 statement in which ESMA said national authorities were expected to bring platforms into line “no later than the end of Q1 2025.” MiCA’s stablecoin rules have applied since June 30, 2024. MiCA has already pushed Tether’s USDT off several EU exchanges, and the European Commission has been preparing to reopen the regulation to cover foreign stablecoin issuers, with a revision expected in 2027.

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