A clear, concise overview of MiCA's detailed requirements for CASPs

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) have been tasked with developing standards and guidelines that are intended to set out how the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCA)'s requirements should be applied and complied with. Once final, these measures will contain detailed obligations for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), crypto-asset issuers and issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMTs).

This report provides a clear, concise overview of standards that will solely apply to CASPs in:

• five standards in ESMA's first consultation package, four of which have been published in their final form, and
• five standards in ESMA's second consultation package.

Although this report does not cover ESMA’s third consultation package, guidelines on reverse solicitation of crypto-asset services by third-country firms and the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments have been covered in detail in separate publications. A concise overview of the third consultation package will be covered in a future iteration of this report. As the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) continue to finalise MiCA’s standards and guidelines, this report will be updated accordingly to note any differences between the proposed and final measures.

The clock is ticking for CASPs operating in or looking to access the EU market to get MiCA compliant. As of 30 December 2024, CASPs that are not already registered or licensed in an EU Member State will not be permitted to operate until they obtain a MiCA authorisation. After the 30 December deadline, those CASPs regulated within an EU jurisdiction may benefit from a transitional period of up to 18 months, depending on the rules set in their respective country.

To access an overview of ESMA and the EBA's standards and guidelines, visit XReg’s MiCA Standards and Guidelines Tracker.