In recent years, crypto assets have gone from being a niche reserved for the most enthusiastic technology users to becoming a financial phenomenon with a global dimension. Spain is no stranger to this trend, and more and more people and companies are showing interest in the use of cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets. Especially since 2024 with the entry of institutional investors, the crypto asset sector has experienced a remarkable expansion, reaching a market capitalization of $3.8 trillion in 2025. This growth has been aided by the effective application, from 30 June 2024, of part of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on the market for crypto-assets (better known as 'MiCA').Market in Crypto-Assets'), which marked an important milestone in the regulation of these assets in the European Union, with significant implications for the Spanish market.

• What does MiCA regulate?

Cryptoassets are defined by MiCA as “a digital representation of a value or right that can be transferred and stored electronically, using distributed ledger technology or similar technology"This definition is as broad as possible in an attempt to also encompass those that will be developed in the future as a result of the constant innovation that characterizes this ecosystem." Among the best-known crypto assets are cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). However, the term encompasses a wide range of assets, including utility tokens (utility tokens), stablecoins (stable coins) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

However, the regulation contained in MiCA only applies to service cards (utility tokens), fichas de dinero electrónico (e-money tokens o EMTs) y fichas referenciadas a activos (asset-referenced tokens o ARTs), siendo estas dos últimas lo que se conoce como monedas estables. Quedan excluidos de su ámbito de aplicación, entre otros, los criptoactivos cubiertos por otras legislaciones europeas (criptoactivos que tengan la consideración de instrumento financiero o las monedas digitales de bancos centrales –CBDCs –“Central Bank Digital Currencies“”, unique and non-fungible crypto assets (NFTs) and the issuance of those crypto assets generated in a decentralized manner (such as Bitcoin or Ethereum), although their trading on a platform would be regulated under MiCA. In principle, decentralized finance (DeFi) and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are excluded from this regulation; however, preparatory work is already underway for a review of MiCA with a focus on DeFi. ⁽¹⁾.

• Implementation phases

MiCA was approved on April 20, 2023 and came into force on June 29 of that same year, but its effects were to be deployed in two implementation phases (between 2024 and 2025), with a provision for a transitional period (called “grandfathering”) of between 12 and 18 months to be chosen by each Member State, in which operators with a MiCA license and those who had been operating in the sector but had not yet obtained a license could coexist. In the case of Spain, although it had initially been announced that the transition period would end on December 30, 2025, given the small number of crypto asset service providers registered with the CNMV at that date, the extension of the transition period until June 30, 2026 was approved.

The first of these phases It came into force on June 30, 2024, and affected the regulation contained in Titles III and IV relating, respectively, to asset-linked tokens or “ARTs” (which are those crypto assets that stabilize their value in relation to other assets or a set of assets, for example, gold-linked tokens such as Pax Gold) y a las fichas de dinero electrónico o “EMTs” (que estabilizan su valor en relación con una moneda oficial, por ejemplo, al dólar estadounidense). Ambas categorías constituyen lo que hasta ahora se conocía como “stablecoins"or stable currencies and, in the case of Spain, their supervision corresponds to the Bank of Spain."

In the first case, the issuers of these tokens must comply with authorization and reimbursement requirements at the market value of the referenced assets. While issuers of electronic money tokens must comply with specific requirements, such as authorization and transparency in issuance and offering, as well as having sufficient reserves. By April 2026, a consolidated market will have been established stablecoins authorized in the EU with a total of 38 accredited issuers, all of them EMTs ⁽²⁾. Centralized supervision by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and national supervisory authorities (such as the CNMV and the Bank of Spain) has allowed for greater regulatory consistency and greater investor confidence.

The second phase of implementation, which began on December 30, 2024, has involved the application of the regulations of Titles I, II, V, VI and VII of the regulation. This phase covers the regulation of crypto asset offerings to the public (ICOs –“Initial Coin Offerings”), la obligación de registro y transparencia para emisores, la supervisión de proveedores de servicios de criptoactivos, (conocidos como CASPs, por sus siglas en inglés “Crypto-assets service providers”), the requirement of licenses to operate in the EU and the requirements for compliance with rules of conduct, risk management and data protection. By April 2026, with the transition period still in force in parts of the EU, more than 185 crypto asset market operators had obtained their MiCA license in the EU. ⁽³⁾, of which 7 are registered in Spain.

• How has MiCA affected operators and products already issued?

Regarding how the implementation of MiCA has affected current market participants and issued products, the former have gone from operating under registration in anti-money laundering registers to a full license regime with a “European passport”. Among the most relevant obligations, it is worth highlighting, in summary: authorization and governance requirements, customer protection rules, conduct and transparency requirements, and prevention of market abuse. Platforms have had to redesign business models, invest in compliance (compliance, risk, IT) and reorganize group structures to optimize where to obtain the MiCA license and how to use the passport. Consequently, in practice, many issuers and platforms have either left the market or adapted rapidly in order to continue operating in the EU.

Regarding regulated crypto assets (ARTS, EMTs and utility tokens), the analysis has been addressed in the October 2025 report of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESBR). European Systemic Risk Board ?) ⁽⁴⁾. MiCA differentiates between ARTs and EMTs, requires reservations, reimbursement rights and specific documentation, and restricts the marketing of products that do not comply with the applicable regime. As an immediate effect, many cryptocurrency service providers stopped offering or acting as intermediaries. stablecoins non-compliant, and in several cases delistings or services have occurredsell-only“ ⁽⁵⁾ to allow an orderly transition of existing positions.

Therefore, tokens already issued do not automatically disappear, but their regulated circulation in the EU may be limited if the issuer or the product does not fit within MiCA, especially on authorized platforms.

• Future outlook: What do we find on the horizon 2026-2028

Once the regulatory design and technical standards development phase is over, the 2026-2028 period is configured as an eminently supervisory cycle. ESMA's digital strategy ⁽⁶⁾ For these years, he emphasizes three ideas: exploitation of data systematically by the competent national authorities, coordination by ESMA and the national supervisors among themselves and requirement compliance with the approved regulations.

In short, the MiCA Regulation has profoundly transformed the crypto asset market in the European Union, making the Eurozone a global regulatory pioneer. The full implementation of MiCA has laid the foundation for a massive and sustainable adoption of crypto assets in the European financial system, marking a turning point in the history of digital financial regulation.

 

^{(1) https://www.eba.europa.eu/publications-and-media/press-releases/eba-and-esma-analyse-recent-developments-crypto-assets (Back)}

⁽²⁾ According to the register kept at the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). ^(Back)

^{(3) https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2024-12/CASPS.csv (Back)}

^{(4) https://www.esrb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/reports/esrb.report202510_cryptoassets.en.pdf (Back)}

⁽⁵⁾ A service “sell-only"" means that the user can sell or convert to another crypto/fiat the assets they already own, but cannot buy, deposit or open new positions in that product or in that specific asset. ^(Back)

⁽⁶⁾ ESMA Digital Strategy 2026-2028: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2026-01/ESMA65-955014868-12887_ESMA_Digital_Strategy_2026_-_2028.pdf ^(Back)