Crypto-funded debit card in European Union

MiCA, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of 31 May 2023 (OJ L 150, 9.6.2023, p. 40), governs CASP authorisation, crypto-asset white papers and ART/EMT issuance; Titles III and IV (ARTs and EMTs) apply from 30 June 2024 and the rest, including CASP rules, from 30 December 2024 (Art 149).

The recast Transfer of Funds Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2023/1113, has applied since 30 December 2024 and requires originator and beneficiary information on every crypto-asset transfer regardless of amount; transfers exceeding EUR 1,000 to or from a self-hosted address also trigger a CASP check of ownership or control of that address.

AMLD6, Directive (EU) 2024/1640 of 31 May 2024, sets the national AML/CFT supervisory and FIU framework; Member States must transpose it by 10 July 2027, when it repeals Directive (EU) 2015/849, the AML directive that still applies to CASPs until then.

MiCA lists 10 crypto-asset services (Art 3(1)(16)) grouped in three minimum-capital classes (Annex IV): Class 1 EUR 50,000 (execution, placing, transfer, reception/transmission, advice, portfolio management); Class 2 EUR 125,000 (adds custody, exchange for funds, exchange crypto-for-crypto); Class 3 EUR 150,000 (trading platform); the requirement is the higher of that amount or one quarter of prior-year fixed overheads (Art 67(1)).

A CASP authorised for exchange of crypto-assets for funds or other crypto-assets is a Class 2 provider (EUR 125,000 minimum capital, MiCA Annex IV); to passport, it notifies its home NCA, which forwards the notice to host states within 10 working days, and services may start on receipt or at the latest on the 15th calendar day (Art 65). France kept the full 18-month transition; Germany chose 12 months.

Under MiCA a CASP providing custody and administration of crypto-assets on behalf of clients is a Class 2 provider with minimum capital of EUR 125,000, or one quarter of prior-year fixed overheads if higher (Art 67(1), Annex IV), and must segregate client crypto-assets from its own holdings, including on the distributed ledger (Art 75(7)).

CASP authorisation under MiCA is granted by the national competent authority of the home Member State (Arts 62–63, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114), for example BaFin, the AMF, the CNMV and the Central Bank of Ireland, which appear as authorising NCAs in the ESMA register.

Only a credit institution or electronic money institution may offer or seek admission to trading of an e-money token, after notifying its white paper to the competent authority (MiCA Art. 48(1)); an ART may be offered only by an EU-established issuer authorised by its home competent authority (Art. 16, 21) or a credit institution with an approved white paper (Art. 17). Since 8 October 2026 ESMA expects CASPs to stop providing services in non-MiCA-compliant ARTs and EMTs to EU clients (opinion ESMA75-113276571-1742).

EMT holders may redeem at any time and at par value, paid in funds, and redemption is free of fees except under a recovery plan (MiCA Art. 49(4), (6)). ART holders have a permanent right of redemption against the issuer, paid at the market value of the referenced assets or by delivering them (Art. 39).

MiCA does not ban algorithmic stablecoins as a category: recital 41 states that a crypto-asset meeting the ART or EMT definition falls under Title III or IV whatever its stabilisation mechanism, including algorithmic stablecoins, so it can be offered only by an authorised issuer holding the required reserve (Art. 36 for ARTs, Art. 54 for EMTs). Algorithmic crypto-assets that reference no asset fall under Title II. Article 43 sets significance criteria, not reserve rules.

ART issuers must hold a reserve of assets, legally and operationally segregated, covering the referenced assets and redemption liquidity (MiCA Art. 36). EMT issuers must deposit at least 30% of funds received in separate accounts at credit institutions and invest the rest in highly liquid low-risk instruments in the same currency (Art. 54). Issuers and CASPs may not pay interest (Arts 40, 50), and ARTs and non-EU-currency EMTs face the means-of-exchange cap in Art. 23.

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In January 2026, the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) became the first NCA to publicly announce a formal enforcement action under MiCA, issuing a cease-and-desist order against an unregistered non-EU CASP (CryptoFlow Ltd., registered in the Cayman Islands) for soliciting French residents without authorization; the AMF noted this action as a "test case" for MiCA enforcement coordination across NCAs AMF MiCA Enforcement Action January 2026

A March 2026 analysis by the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) identified that 8 of the 27 EU NCAs had not yet finalized their MiCA enforcement guidelines by Q1 2026, creating "supervisory fragmentation risks" for CASPs operating across multiple member states; the ESRB warned that this could lead to inconsistent application of authorization requirements and investor protections by the April 2026 enforcement date ESRB Analysis of MiCA Supervisory Fragmentation

The European Commission's March 2026 enforcement update confirmed that the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) had issued formal warnings to 14 crypto-asset firms for failing to submit complete authorization applications by the February 28, 2026 deadline; the AFM warned that firms without approved authorization by April 1, 2026, would face immediate suspension orders European Commission MiCA Enforcement Update March 2026