What MiCA does
The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation is the European Union’s single, directly-applicable framework for crypto-assets that fall outside existing financial-services law. It covers three things: the issuance of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens, the authorisation and conduct of crypto-asset service providers, and market-abuse rules for crypto-asset markets.
Because MiCA is a Regulation rather than a Directive, it applies directly in every member state without national transposition. That makes it materially different from the patchwork it replaced, though national competent authorities still do the authorising and supervising.
The transitional period has ended
This is the most consequential fact on this page as of the date above. Article 143 allowed member states to grant existing providers a grandfathering period of up to 18 months. Firms already providing services under national law before 30 December 2024 could continue until authorised, refused, or until the transitional period expired.
That period expired on 1 July 2026. ESMA has stated that providers without authorisation after that date must implement wind-down plans, and has warned retail investors that not every firm operating before the deadline will be authorised after it.
Member states did not all adopt the maximum grandfathering period, so deadlines differed by country during the transition. ESMA published a country-by-country list. That mattered particularly for groups operating through several EU entities, where one entity could face an earlier deadline than another.
What this means in practice
If you use a crypto service in the EU, the check worth running is whether the entity you deal with holds a CASP authorisation, and from which national competent authority. Authorised firms appear in public registers maintained by their home regulator and, at EU level, in ESMA’s registers. A firm that was operating lawfully in 2025 under a national regime is not necessarily authorised now.
Stablecoins
MiCA treats asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens separately and more strictly than other crypto-assets, with reserve, redemption and governance requirements on issuers. Significant tokens attract additional supervision at EU level. Some non-compliant tokens were delisted by EU venues ahead of the deadlines rather than brought into compliance.
Tax
MiCA does not harmonise tax. Income, capital gains and VAT treatment of crypto-assets remain matters for each member state, and they differ widely — including on questions as basic as whether disposals are taxed as capital gains or as miscellaneous income. Separately, DAC8 extends the EU’s automatic exchange-of-information framework to crypto-asset reporting, which increases what tax authorities receive without changing what is owed.
Sources
- ESMA, Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) (1 Apr 2026)
- ESMA, Statement on the end of transitional periods under MiCA (1 Apr 2026)
Not legal or tax advice. This is a summary of published rules, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the primary sources linked above.
Last reviewed by Conisec Staff. Review cadence: Quarterly.