EU-licensed crypto companies have until early January 2027 to end services for stablecoins that fail MiCA, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said on Thursday.
ESMA together this three-month period in a notice addressed to the national supervisory authorities. The notice covers asset-referenced tokens (ART) and electronic money tokens (EMT) that do not meet the MiCA conditions for legal offering or trading in the EU. It does not name any individual tokens.
Supervisors are asked to check whether a company allows EU customers to purchase, trade, hold or add such tokens. This control covers all types of services, from trading platforms and order execution to advice and portfolio management. Companies offering these services would have to block new purchases from EU customers through technical and contractual controls.
Guard comes into play
ESMA first addressed non-compliant stablecoins in a statement on January 17, 2025. This statement asked trading platforms to stop offering them, with sale-only access allowed until the end of March 2025. It also indicated that simple custody and transfer of these tokens could continue. Binance met this timeline and delisted nine non-MiCA stablecoins, including Tether’s USDT, for European users on March 31, 2025.
After this date, Binance users could only sell these stablecoins through its Convert tool.
Thursday’s notice includes custody and transfers. Both are now on the list of services supervisors should review. The opinion also rejects investor warnings as a solution. The 2025 declaration asked companies to carry out awareness campaigns among European investors. ESMA now says warnings, disclosures and customer thanks would not address its concerns.
ESMA’s guidance for 2025 focused on whether a service amounted to a public offering of the token. Thursday’s notice retains this analysis of the public offer and adds a second basis. He cites MiCA’s duty for licensed businesses to act honestly, fairly and professionally in the best interests of their customers. The provision of a non-compliant token should be presumed to constitute a breach of this obligation, ESMA said.
Liquidation extends until January
Unlicensed businesses hit a threshold earlier this year. On June 23, ESMA asked these unlicensed providers to stop welcoming new EU customers before the end of the MiCA transition period on July 1. As of July 21, fewer than 300 of the more than 3,000 companies serving crypto clients in the EU were licensed, according to CASP Tracker.
Thursday’s notice targets the companies that were selected. Those not yet online may maintain limited exit services to avoid harming customers. The services cover the sale, conversion, withdrawal, transfer and custody of existing assets.
These exit services must not support new purchases, promotions or exchanges. They must be time-limited, clearly communicated to clients and closely supervised. ESMA will itself monitor, with each national supervisor, the speed with which the notice is applied.
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