EU Regulators Publish 2026 MiCA Enforcement Priorities
ESMA and EBA outlined a focus on stablecoin reserve attestations, market-abuse surveillance, and unauthorised cross-border services.
The European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Banking Authority on Monday issued joint guidance setting out their enforcement priorities under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation for 2026, signalling a tougher posture in the framework's second year of operation.\n\nThe priorities include verifying that stablecoin issuers maintain adequate reserves and produce timely attestations, expanding market-abuse surveillance across MiCA-authorised venues, and identifying non-EU firms providing services to EU residents without proper authorisation.\n\nRegulators warned that firms operating under transitional licences should not assume continued forbearance and that supervisory dialogues would intensify ahead of full-licence applications.
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