ESMA sets three-month deadline to resolve noncompliant stablecoin exposures

Europe’s securities regulator has told national supervisors to stop authorised crypto firms from maintaining EU clients’ access to stablecoins that fail the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation’s requirements. Remaining legacy exposures should be resolved promptly and within three months of its October 8 opinion, putting the outer deadline at January 8, 2027.

The European Securities and Markets Authority’s position covers the full range of regulated crypto services. Trading platforms and exchanges are included, along with custody, transfers, investment advice, order execution and portfolio management. Firms should use technical controls, contracts and internal procedures to prevent customers from acquiring the affected tokens or increasing their holdings.

The opinion is addressed primarily to national regulators and seeks consistent supervision across the EU. It complements earlier guidance rather than declaring that every service automatically amounts to a public token offering. Its central question is whether continued servicing is compatible with the obligations of a MiCA-authorised provider.

ESMA argues that a platform’s own risk controls cannot replace safeguards missing at the token issuer. Those safeguards include redemption rights, reserve or asset-protection requirements, governance, disclosures and supervision. It also says customer warnings or acknowledgements are insufficient substitutes for those protections.

Existing holdings have a limited exit route

National supervisors can allow narrowly defined services needed for an orderly wind-down and to avoid harming existing customers. The opinion identifies liquidation, conversion, withdrawal, transfer and safekeeping of existing holdings, with close supervision and a clear time limit.

Those arrangements cannot facilitate fresh acquisitions, promotion or active distribution. That distinction makes the three-month period a deadline for addressing existing exposure, rather than a general window to keep expanding access.

Cointelegraph’s October 8 report places the opinion after ESMA’s January 2025 guidance on trading and exchange services involving noncompliant stablecoins. Thursday’s document makes the expected scope across providers’ services explicit.

The opinion does not name an individual stablecoin or issuer. Its test is whether the conditions for a lawful EU public offering or admission to trading are met under MiCA, including relevant exemptions and transition arrangements. For providers and their clients, the next step is supervised implementation: blocking additional exposure while communicating the temporary routes available to unwind existing holdings.