The Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) has long advocated support for the European Union’s leadership in establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto-assets. The landmark Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework provided an important foundation for legal certainty, consumer protection and responsible market evolution. As the European Commission reviews this framework, we submitted our contribution to the recently closed consultation. In our contribution we are not calling for wholesale revision. Rather, our response draws on our members’ collective experience implementing MiCA and seeks to identify targeted areas where MiCA could be refined, ensuring that Europe remains both a safe and attractive place to develop digital finance.
Preserving an activity-based approach
CCI supports the Commission’s approach of keeping MiCA focused primarily on centralised entities such as stablecoin issuers and Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs), while financial instruments remain subject to the appropriate sectoral legislation, including MiFID, PSD/R, UCITS and AIFMD. An activity-based approach provides a level playing field between traditional and digital operators, while enabling innovation across both.
In the longer term, there may be merit in considering a more comprehensive “Markets in Digital Assets” framework. But for now, priority should be given to adapting existing financial-services legislation to accommodate the broader digitalisation of assets and the development of on-chain finance, as we are seeing in relation to DLT with the Market Integration and Supervision (MISP) package. Supervisors should also take existing authorisations into account and engage constructively with firms to address risks proportionately, avoiding unnecessary duplication or additional licensing.
Stablecoins: interoperability and international alignment
Stablecoins illustrate the importance of ensuring that EU rules work alongside those of other major jurisdictions. CCI supports euro-denominated stablecoins that can interoperate and remain fungible with non-euro stablecoins, helping EU firms operate effectively in global markets and supporting the international role of the euro.
We caution against measures that restrict EU-authorised entities from issuing non-euro stablecoins or otherwise undermine established business models. In the medium to long term, we acknowledge that international alignment and an outcomes-based equivalence framework could offer a more sustainable alternative to complex multi-issuance structures. We also believe the current prohibition on interest or rewards warrants reconsideration.
Competitive markets and global liquidity
Europe’s digital-asset markets will depend on access to deep and global liquidity. CCI supports preserving CASP broker-dealer models as they have evolved, facilitating access to global liquidity pools. We do not see a case for increasing CASP capital requirements, nor for automatically applying the entire MiFID investment-firm framework to crypto businesses whose trading and settlement models differ fundamentally from traditional markets. Where crypto products are financial instruments, however, MiFID/R remains the appropriate regulatory framework.
A proportionate approach to DeFi
CCI supported policymakers’ initial decision when negotiating MiCA not to regulate genuinely decentralised finance directly. This remains our position today. Neutral software, non-custodial interfaces and self-directed wallet tools should remain outside MiCA’s scope. Given the global and evolving nature of DeFi, new requirements should only be considered cautiously and, if at all, at international, not regional level. Mandatory certification of DeFi protocols or self-hosted wallet software should be avoided; if certification is pursued, it should be voluntary, market-led and incentive-based.
From MiCA to MiCA 2.0?
Looking ahead, Europe has an opportunity to build on MiCA’s foundations while taking stock and learning from implementation and developments at home and abroad. A small set of targeted, legislative modifications that preserve strong protections, international interoperability and access to innovation can help ensure that EU citizens and businesses benefit from the next generation of digital finance, and that Europe remains at the forefront of global digital policy development.
