The European Union spent years writing the world''s first comprehensive crypto rulebook. It is now preparing to rewrite parts of it.
Officials involved in the European Commission''s review say the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation will be reopened in 2027, with a consultation already gathering evidence on where the regime is producing outcomes nobody intended. The framework has been applied across member states since the end of 2024.
Two pressures are driving the revision. The first is competitive. Washington''s stablecoin statute created a licensing path for dollar tokens that is narrower in scope but faster to navigate than MiCA''s e-money token regime, and European issuers have complained that the asymmetry pushes activity offshore while leaving European users holding foreign-issued tokens anyway.
The second is structural. MiCA was drafted before the current wave of tokenized funds, restaking and onchain credit, and supervisors have found themselves classifying products the text does not describe. Enforcement is also uneven: authorization is granted nationally and passported across the bloc, which has invited firms to shop for the most accommodating supervisor.
Any revision will take time. A Commission proposal in 2027 would still need agreement between the Parliament and the Council, a process that consumed roughly two years the first time.
In the interim, supervisors are relying on guidance rather than legislation, which is faster but carries less weight. Firms operating in Europe should expect the current text to govern their next two budget cycles regardless of what is drafted next.