ESMA orders MiCA firms to halt services for non-compliant stablecoins

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has told crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) authorized under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation to cease offering services involving stablecoins that do not meet the EU’s regulatory requirements.

The guidance covers non-compliant asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens and applies across services including trading, exchange, order execution, custody, transfers, investment advice and portfolio management.

The EU regulator said that national competent authorities should supervise firms to ensure they do not maintain or introduce access to non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins for EU clients. CASPs will also be expected to put technical, contractual and organizational safeguards in place to prevent clients from acquiring or increasing their positions in those tokens.

Tether’s USDT is among the stablecoins that could be affected by new European regulatory guidance after ESMA called on crypto platforms to restrict services involving tokens that do not comply with MiCA.

Tether has not secured MiCA authorization for USDT and has indicated it does not intend to apply for an EU e-money token license. This leaves access to USDT for EU clients increasingly dependent on how individual regulated platforms implement the rules.

For clients who already hold affected stablecoins, national regulators are expected to require remediation as soon as possible and within three months of the opinion’s publication.

That puts the deadline on Jan. 8, 2027. Until then, platforms could continue to provide only the services needed to liquidate, convert, withdraw, transfer or safeguard the assets.

The move builds on earlier restrictions in the European Economic Area, where several major crypto platforms have already limited or removed USDT access for EEA users.