Reference · MiCAR
Stablecoins under MiCAR: which category applies
The word "stablecoin" does not appear in the operative text. Two categories do, and almost everything that matters follows from which one a token lands in.
- Regulation
- (EU) 2023/1114
- Authority (DE)
- BaFin, EBA for significant tokens
- Titles III and IV apply
- 30 June 2024
- Scope
- EU-wide, offer and admission to trading
Two categories, not one
MiCAR never defines a stablecoin. It defines an e-money token, which references a single official currency, and an asset-referenced token, which references anything else: several currencies, one or more commodities, one or more crypto-assets, or a mix. The two sit in different titles of the regulation, Title IV and Title III, and both have applied since 30 June 2024, six months before the rest of MiCAR. A token is not classified by what its marketing calls it. It is classified by what it references.
Who may issue an e-money token
This is the constraint most projects underestimate. Only a credit institution or an authorised electronic money institution may offer an e-money token to the public in the Union or seek its admission to trading. There is no separate, lighter e-money token licence to apply for. The issuer must also notify a crypto-asset white paper to its competent authority and publish it. If a project is not one of those two things and does not intend to become one, it is not going to issue a euro or dollar token in Europe, whatever the technical design.
Redemption at par, at any time
E-money tokens are issued at par value on receipt of funds, and the holder has an unconditional right to redeem at par in the referenced currency at any time. That right cannot be waived and cannot be made conditional — not on a minimum amount, not on a notice period, not on the holder being an onboarded customer of the issuer. For anyone integrating a token, this is the clause that separates a MiCAR e-money token from an offshore stablecoin whose terms reserve the right to suspend redemption.
No interest, and the definition is broad
Issuers may not grant interest on e-money tokens. The prohibition is written to survive relabelling: any compensation or benefit tied to how long a holder holds the token counts as interest, including net compensation, discounts and equivalent benefits, and it does not matter whether the benefit comes from the issuer or from a third party. A yield programme layered on top of a MiCAR e-money token by a distributor is not a way around this. The same prohibition applies to asset-referenced tokens.
Asset-referenced tokens are the harder regime
Reference more than one thing and you leave Title IV for Title III, which requires its own authorisation rather than an existing banking or e-money licence. This is where basket-referenced designs, commodity-backed tokens and crypto-collateralised tokens land. Teams sometimes reach for a basket to avoid the single-currency framing, on the assumption that it is the lighter path. It is the opposite: it moves the token into a standalone authorisation regime built for a risk profile the legislator treated as higher.
If you are not the issuer
Most teams touching stablecoins never issue one. They hold, exchange, transfer or display someone else's token, and that is a different question entirely: not Title III or IV, but whether the activity is one of the crypto-asset services listed in MiCAR, which is what a CASP authorisation covers. The two get conflated constantly. Issuing is about the token; CASP is about the service you provide around it. A product can be entirely clear of Titles III and IV and still need a CASP authorisation, and the reverse is also true.
Common questions
Is a dollar-referenced token an e-money token in the EU?
The test is whether it references a single official currency, and the currency does not have to be the euro. A token referencing only the US dollar is an e-money token for MiCAR purposes when it is offered to the public in the Union or admitted to trading there. Whether a specific token is issued by an authorised entity is a question for the register, not for its marketing site.
Can I offer users a yield on a MiCAR stablecoin?
Not as something tied to holding it. The interest prohibition covers benefits linked to the duration of holding, whether they come from the issuer or a third party, and covers discounts and equivalent benefits rather than only payments labelled as interest. Rewards structured around activity rather than holding period are a different analysis, and one worth taking advice on before launching.
What if the token references a basket of currencies?
More than one reference takes it out of the e-money token definition and into asset-referenced tokens under Title III, which carries its own authorisation requirement rather than resting on a credit institution or e-money institution licence. A basket is a heavier regime than a single currency, not a lighter one.
Does accepting stablecoin payments make me an issuer?
No. Titles III and IV govern offering a token to the public and seeking its admission to trading. Accepting a token someone else issued is not issuance. It may still raise the separate question of whether you are providing a crypto-asset service, which is the CASP analysis.
Where are the reserve assets held?
For e-money tokens, at least 30% of the funds received must sit in a separate account at a credit institution, with the remainder invested in secure, low-risk, highly liquid financial instruments carrying minimal market, credit and concentration risk. The point of the split is that a meaningful share stays immediately available rather than fully invested.
How do I check whether an issuer is authorised?
Through the official registers rather than the issuer's own claims. Authorisation status is a matter of public record, and it is worth checking the entity named in the white paper rather than the brand on the token.
This is not legal advice
These are engineering notes from building products that fall under these rules, not a legal opinion, and they summarise rather than reproduce the regulation. Classification turns on specifics, and the operative text is Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. Take advice on your own facts before relying on any of it.
Building on stablecoin rails
We run stablecoin payment and settlement flows in production under European rules, and audit the contracts underneath. Two sentences about what you are building is enough to start.