EU securities regulator ESMA has told national supervisors that crypto firms licensed in the bloc should wind down services tied to stablecoins that do not comply with MiCA within three months, setting an effective deadline in early January 2027. The move covers both asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens that fail to meet the conditions for lawful offer or trading in the EU.
The opinion goes beyond trading venues and broker-style activity. ESMA said supervisors should examine whether licensed firms let EU clients buy, trade, hold, or add to positions in non-compliant stablecoins across a wide range of services, and it said firms should stop new purchases by EU clients using technical and contractual controls.
Scope widens across crypto services
ESMA’s guidance instructs supervisors to look across all relevant service types, not only spot trading. The review is meant to cover activities including trading, order execution, advice, and portfolio management where a licensed provider gives EU clients access to non-MiCA stablecoins.
A key change is that custody and transfers are now explicitly pulled into scope. In a 2025 statement, custody and transfer of non-MiCA stablecoins had still been allowed, but the new opinion reverses that position and subjects those services to the same scrutiny as other forms of access.
Warnings no longer seen as enough
The regulator’s analysis now also considers whether a given service amounts to a public offer. At the same time, ESMA linked the issue to MiCA’s conduct obligations for licensed firms, which require them to act honestly, fairly, and in the best interests of clients.
Under that approach, continuing to serve a non-compliant token is presumed to conflict with those duties. ESMA also dismissed the idea that investor warnings on their own would solve the problem, signaling that disclosure is not an adequate substitute for restricting the service itself.
Exit services are allowed, but only on a narrow basis
The opinion does not call for an immediate freeze on every interaction with affected tokens. Instead, ESMA said firms may provide limited exit services so existing clients can reduce or remove exposure without being harmed by an abrupt cutoff.
Those exit services can include selling, conversion, withdrawal, transfer, and safekeeping of existing holdings. But they must not be used to support new purchases, ongoing promotion, or fresh trading activity. ESMA said any such arrangements should be time-limited, clearly explained to clients, and subject to close supervision.
Different timetable for licensed and unlicensed firms
The latest opinion is directed at firms that already hold EU licenses. Unlicensed providers were subject to an earlier transition deadline, with onboarding of new EU clients halted by July 1 during MiCA’s phase-in period.
The broader backdrop shows how early the licensing market still was: by mid-2024, fewer than 300 of more than 3,000 crypto firms in the EU had obtained licenses. ESMA said it will work with national competent authorities to monitor implementation and push for timely application of the new approach.
The next confirmed step is supervisory enforcement at national level over the coming three months, with firms expected to block new EU client purchases and complete wind-down measures for non-MiCA stablecoin services by early January 2027.
Source: cryptopotato.com