EU Eyes MiCA Expansion as Tokenization and Global Stablecoins Gain Momentum - Crypto Economy

TL;DR:

• The European Commission will receive feedback from technological and institutional industry stakeholders until September 30, 2026.
• A total of 244 companies obtained formal authorization as Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs) before the grace period ended.
• The comprehensive regulation entered into force in an absolute manner on July 1, 2026, following the conclusion of the technical adaptation periods.

The European Commission has initiated a formal information-gathering process among financial sector stakeholders to analyze the potential expansion of MiCA. The measure comes just a week after the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulatory framework reached full application across the entire community bloc.

The regulatory body seeks to determine whether it is necessary to extend the scope of the law toward recent innovations such as the tokenization of real-world assets and the activity of stablecoin issuers based outside the eurozone. According to a report published by Euronews, several anonymous diplomatic sources confirmed that international market developments accelerated this internal review.

The original text of the regulations was drafted before the massive boom in tokenized securities. Currently, multiple exchange platforms inside and outside Europe offer shares and commercial titles under this digital format. Official data indicates that traditional European Union securities laws temporarily absorb these mercantile instruments but lack specific provisions for distributed networks.


The impact of global legislation on European standards

The review of the European regulations coincides with significant structural changes in North America. The United States government enacted the GENIUS Act during the summer of 2025, legalizing so-called payment stablecoins backed in their entirety by liquid reserve assets.

Unlike the U.S. approach, the European ecosystem divides these assets into two independent operational streams. E-money tokens (EMTs) are linked to a single national fiat currency. On the other hand, asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) are backed by baskets of currencies, commodities, or real estate assets.

According to technical reports from the European Banking Authority (EBA), ARTs face more demanding liquidity requirements and higher capital buffers than the market average. This strict, direct supervision aims to mitigate the risks of systemic financial contagion in local markets. However, the current framework does not detail the status of shares that replicate the ownership of physical securities in an exact one-to-one ratio.

A European Union diplomat told local media that reopening the technical file presents itself as a necessary action to respond to the demands raised by the European Central Bank. Community regulators note that digital asset market conditions have continued to mutate rapidly since the original design of the supervisory guidelines.

A major milestone for the development of this reform will occur at the close of the third quarter of 2026, when the commission consolidates the data from the consultation to draft the definitive amendments.