MiCA, the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114), does not use the word stablecoin. It creates two categories of token that aim to hold a stable value, each with its own authorisation route. An e-money token (EMT) references one official currency, such as the euro or the US dollar. An asset-referenced token (ART) references anything else: several currencies, a commodity such as gold, other crypto-assets, or a basket.
The rules for issuers, in Titles III and IV of MiCA, have applied since 30 June 2024, six months before the rest of the Regulation. No one may make a public offer of an ART or EMT in the EU, or seek its admission to trading, unless the issuer is authorised for that token. The two categories are exclusive: a token is either an EMT, an ART or neither, and the classification decides who may issue it.
Issuing a token is separate from providing services in it. An exchange or custodian that lists or holds stablecoins issued by others needs CASP authorisation, explained in our MiCA CASP licence guide, but not issuer authorisation.
The EMT route suits a token pegged one-for-one to a single currency, and uses the established EU e-money framework. The ART route covers every other reference value and is a MiCA-specific authorisation. The table compares the two.
| Feature | E-money token (EMT) | Asset-referenced token (ART) |
|---|---|---|
| Reference value | One official currency | Several currencies, commodities, crypto-assets or a basket |
| Legal nature | Electronic money | MiCA-specific crypto-asset |
| Who may issue | Credit institutions and electronic money institutions | Credit institutions and authorised ART issuers |
| Reserve | Funds received, invested in the same currency in secure, low-risk assets | A diversified reserve matching the reference assets, held by a separate custodian |
| Redemption | At par, at any time, free of charge | At any time, at the market value of the referenced assets or by delivering them |
| Interest | Prohibited | Prohibited |
| White paper | Notified to the regulator before publication | Approved by the regulator with the authorisation |
| Significance | Same criteria as ARTs (Article 56) | 10 million holders, €5 billion value, 2.5 million transactions and €500 million a day, among other criteria (Article 43) |
Under Article 48, only a credit institution or an electronic money institution (EMI) may make a public offer of an EMT or seek its admission to trading. For non-bank issuers, the EMI authorisation is therefore the EMT authorisation, granted under the Electronic Money Directive (Directive 2009/110/EC) as implemented in the home member state, with the MiCA rules on white papers, reserves and redemption on top.
EMIs that issue stablecoins are authorised in several member states, including France, Lithuania, Ireland and Malta. The choice of home state for the EMI is covered below.
A credit institution may issue EMTs without a separate EMI authorisation. It notifies its regulator and prepares the MiCA white paper, and the reserve, redemption and disclosure rules apply in the same way.
The EMT white paper describes the issuer, the token, the rights attached, the underlying technology and the risks. It is notified to the home regulator at least 20 working days before publication, but it is not approved, and the issuer is responsible for its content. Marketing must be consistent with it.
An ART may be offered or admitted to trading only by a credit institution or by an issuer authorised under Article 16 of MiCA. ART issuers do not need EMI status. The authorisation includes regulator approval of the white paper.
Authorisation is not required for an ART whose average outstanding value over 12 months does not exceed €5,000,000, or that is offered only to qualified investors and can only be held by them. The issuer still produces a white paper and notifies it to the regulator.
A credit institution issuing an ART does not need separate ART authorisation, but it notifies its regulator, has its white paper approved and meets the reserve and operational rules.
The white paper is the disclosure document for the token. It is the basis on which holders, CASPs and the regulator judge the token, and the issuer is liable for information in it that is incomplete, unclear or misleading.
The white paper carries a clear statement that it has not been approved by a regulator (for EMTs) and a summary written for retail readers. It is updated and re-notified whenever a significant new factor or material change affects the information in it.
The issuer's home regulator authorises the EMI or ART issuer and supervises it unless the token becomes significant. The choice turns on where management and staff will sit, banking for the reserve, the depth of local e-money expertise and the language of supervision.
| Member state | E-money regulator | Points to weigh |
|---|---|---|
| France | ACPR | Several EMT issuers authorised; supervision in French |
| Lithuania | Bank of Lithuania | Large EMI population and an English-language process |
| Ireland | Central Bank of Ireland | English-speaking common law base with deep payments expertise |
| Malta | Malta Financial Services Authority | English-language process and long experience of crypto regulation |
| Netherlands | De Nederlandsche Bank | Strong payments ecosystem; supervision in Dutch and English |
| Luxembourg | CSSF | Institutional groups and fund infrastructure |
The comparison of EU countries for a MiCA licence covers the same regulators from the CASP side, which matters where a group will both issue and distribute its token.
Funds received in exchange for EMTs are invested in secure, low-risk assets denominated in the same currency as the token. Under Article 54, at least 30% of the funds received are always held as deposits in separate accounts at credit institutions. For significant EMTs the deposit share rises to 60%, under the EBA's technical standards on liquidity.
The reserve covers the risks of the referenced assets and the liquidity needed for redemption. It is held separately from the issuer's own assets, with an independent custodian, and invested only in highly liquid financial instruments with minimal market, credit and concentration risk. The issuer publishes the amount of tokens in circulation and the value and composition of the reserve at least monthly, and commissions an independent audit of the reserve every six months.
Safeheld, the firm's own safeguarding platform, runs the daily reconciliations that EMIs use to evidence safeguarding of token holder funds; the Safeheld page sets out how it works.
EMT holders have a right to redeem at any time and at par value, in funds other than e-money, under Article 49. The issuer may not charge a fee for redemption or set conditions that limit the right in practice, and it states the redemption conditions prominently in the white paper.
ART holders have a permanent right of redemption at any time, under Article 39. The issuer pays the market value of the referenced assets or delivers the assets themselves, and publishes its redemption policy. The redemption plan sets out how holders are treated if the issuer cannot meet its obligations, including the orderly sale of reserve assets.
Neither the issuer nor a CASP may pay interest, or any other remuneration or benefit linked to the length of time a holder keeps an EMT or ART (Articles 40 and 50). A yield-bearing product built on a stablecoin needs separate analysis, because the yield may itself be a regulated investment service or may take the token outside the EMT and ART categories.
Every ART issuer, and every EMT issuer through Article 55, maintains two plans. The recovery plan, under Article 46, sets out the measures the issuer will take to restore compliance with the reserve requirements if they are breached, including liquidity fees on redemption, limits on the amount redeemed in a day and suspension of redemption in defined circumstances. The redemption plan, under Article 47, shows how all holders would be repaid in an orderly way if the issuer cannot meet its obligations, including by selling reserve assets.
Both plans are notified to the regulator, reviewed and updated regularly, and tested against scenarios such as a large run on redemptions, the insolvency of a reserve bank or custodian, and a market dislocation in the reserve assets. They are where the regulator tests whether the reserve design works under stress.
Regulator fees are set nationally and are a small part of the total. The larger costs are capital, people and the reserve infrastructure.
Reserve income is the main revenue line for most issuers, since interest cannot be passed to holders. The business plan in the application shows how reserve income, issuance and redemption fees where charged, and distribution costs combine over three years.
Once authorised, an issuer runs a daily operating cycle around the reserve and the token supply.
A group that also provides CASP services in its own token runs these duties alongside its CASP compliance programme.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) classifies an ART or EMT as significant when at least three criteria in Article 43 are met. Article 56 applies the same criteria to EMTs.
| Criterion | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Number of holders | More than 10 million |
| Value of the token or size of the reserve | More than €5 billion |
| Daily transactions | More than 2.5 million transactions and €500 million a day on average |
| Issuer status | The issuer is a large online platform designated under the Digital Markets Act |
| International use | Significant use for payments and remittances across borders |
| Interconnection | Links with the wider financial system |
| Wider activity | The issuer issues another ART or EMT and provides at least one crypto-asset service |
A significant ART issuer moves to direct EBA supervision, with own funds of 3% of average reserve assets, a remuneration policy, liquidity stress testing and a 60% minimum deposit share in the reserve. For significant EMTs issued by an EMI, the EBA supervises the MiCA requirements while the national regulator keeps supervision under e-money law.
Yes. A token pegged to the US dollar references one official currency, so it is an EMT and must be issued by an EU EMI or credit institution, with US dollar reserves, redemption at par in dollars and a white paper notified to the regulator.
For ARTs and for EMTs denominated in a currency that is not an official currency of a member state, Articles 22, 23 and 58 add two rules. Where the issue value exceeds €100 million, the issuer reports quarterly on holders, value and transactions. Where the estimated average number and value of transactions a day linked to use as a means of exchange within a single currency area exceed 1 million and €200 million, the issuer stops issuing the token and submits a plan to bring use below those levels within 40 working days.
A non-EU issuer reaches EU users by establishing an EU EMI, obtaining authorisation and issuing the token through that entity. Reverse solicitation, where the client approaches the firm entirely on its own initiative, is a narrow exception and does not support ongoing issuance to EU users.
MiCA does not name algorithmic stablecoins, but its requirements leave no route for them as EMTs or ARTs. Both categories require a reserve of real assets and a redemption right against it, and a supply mechanism driven by an algorithm does not count as a reserve. A token that has no reserve cannot be marketed as stable or as referencing a value.
Hybrid designs, with a partial reserve supported by an algorithm, meet the same rule: the reserve must cover redemption on its own. Projects in this category have restructured with full reserves, rebranded as ordinary crypto-assets under Title II with their own white paper, or left the EU market.
Because EMTs are electronic money, some services involving them are also payment services under PSD2, the EU Payment Services Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2366). Transferring EMTs for clients, or holding them in custodial wallets used to make payments, can require a payment institution or EMI authorisation alongside MiCA CASP authorisation.
The EBA's No Action Letter of June 2025 gave CASPs a transition to 2 March 2026 to obtain the payments authorisation for these services. Its Opinion of 12 February 2026 asks national regulators to require firms that do not meet its conditions to stop those services until authorised. An EMI already holds the payments permissions, so for many groups the most direct structure is an EMI that issues the EMT and also notifies its regulator to provide custody and transfer of its own tokens under Article 60.
The EU payments reforms that would align these regimes are covered in our article on PSD3 and the EU Payment Services Regulation.
The regulator's statutory periods apply on top of preparation. For EMIs, national e-money law sets a decision within three months of a complete application; firms should plan around 6 to 8 months from submission to authorisation. For ARTs, Articles 20 and 21 give the regulator 60 working days from a complete application to assess it, the EBA and ESMA (and the European Central Bank where relevant) 20 working days to give their opinions, and the regulator 25 working days after that to decide.
The UK regulates stablecoins under its own regime, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/102). Issuing a qualifying stablecoin in the UK becomes an FCA-authorised activity; the FCA application window opened on 30 September 2026 and runs to 28 February 2027, and the regime commences on 25 October 2027. Stablecoins used widely for payments can be recognised as systemic, bringing Bank of England supervision. The UK has no EMT and ART split, and UK and EU authorisations do not passport into each other. Our article on UK stablecoin payments regulation covers the UK position.
In the US, the GENIUS Act was signed into law on 18 July 2025 and takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after final regulations; the implementing rules are still proposals. Groups issuing in the EU, UK and US run three applications with a shared reserve and governance design but separate entities, regulators and capital. The global stablecoin licence guide compares all three.
An EMT references one official currency and is electronic money. An ART references several currencies, commodities, crypto-assets or a basket; a token cannot be both.
Only credit institutions and electronic money institutions, under Article 48 of MiCA. A non-bank issuer obtains EMI authorisation, with initial capital of at least €350,000.
A credit institution or an issuer authorised under Article 16 of MiCA. Own funds are the highest of €350,000, 2% of average reserve assets and one quarter of fixed overheads.
Funds received are invested in secure, low-risk assets in the same currency, with at least 30% held as deposits at credit institutions, rising to 60% for significant EMTs.
When at least three criteria in Article 43 are met, such as more than 10 million holders, more than €5 billion in value, or more than 2.5 million transactions and €500 million a day. The same criteria apply to EMTs.
No. Neither the issuer nor a CASP may pay interest or any benefit linked to how long a holder keeps the token.
Yes, as an EMT through an EU EMI or bank. Where daily use as a means of exchange exceeds 1 million transactions and €200 million, the issuer must stop issuing and present a plan to reduce use.
Not as EMTs or ARTs, because both require a reserve of real assets and a redemption right against it. An algorithm does not count as a reserve.
Buckingham Capital Consulting has obtained EMI authorisations in the UK and the EU since 2013, including the Central Bank of Ireland EMI licence for Own Solutions and FCA EMI authorisations for Dzing Finance, Hryze and HFS. For stablecoin issuers, the firm prepares the EMI or ART application, the reserve and redemption design and the white paper, and coordinates parallel UK and US filings.
Speak to an expert: WhatsApp +44 7563 115980, Telegram @buckinghamcapital or info@buckinghamcapitalconsulting.co.uk.
This article is general information, reviewed against the regulator’s published requirements on the date shown. It is not legal advice; the regulator’s current publications take precedence.