ESMA shifts MiCA focus to supervision for 2027
ESMA says its MiCA work is moving from rulemaking to supervision, with 2027 priorities covering crypto firm resilience, outsourcing and reporting harmonisation.
Key points
- ESMA Chair Verena Ross said the MiCA focus has shifted from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence.
- The 2027 work programme targets operational resilience, outsourcing risks, liquidity, reverse solicitation and asset classification.
- ESMA plans to harmonise CASP periodic reporting and promote common risk indicators and supervisory dashboards.
- The MIDAS crypto market surveillance system's first phase is expected to be fully operational in 2027.
- ESMA will feed supervisory experience into the European Commission's MiCA review, expected by June 2027.
The European Securities and Markets Authority will concentrate its coordination of national crypto supervision in 2027 on operational resilience, outsourcing and firms keeping enough operations inside the bloc, CoinTelegraph reports. The shift comes as implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation deepens across the European Union.
ESMA Chair Verena Ross told the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday that the regulator's MiCA focus had moved from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence. She said the aim was for innovation to flourish within a framework offering clarity for firms, safeguards for investors and confidence in the markets.
The priorities are set out in ESMA's 2027 work programme, published on Monday. The regulator plans to strengthen coordination between national authorities that supervise crypto asset service providers, known as CASPs. Operational resilience, outsourcing risks, liquidity, reverse solicitation and asset classification are among the areas it will watch.
Supervision replaces rulemaking
ESMA also intends to harmonise the periodic reporting that CASPs send to national regulators. It wants common risk indicators and supervisory dashboards to give supervisors a comparable view across member states. The regulator said it would advance MIDAS, its centralised crypto market surveillance system for spotting potential market abuse under MiCA.
The first phase of MIDAS is expected to be fully operational in 2027. ESMA had already disclosed plans for a second phase in February. Monday's work programme said that phase would add analytical features and widen the types of data available, with rollout scheduled for the fourth quarter subject to board approval.
Beyond supervision, ESMA plans to feed its supervisory experience into the European Commission's review of MiCA, which is expected by June 2027. It will also prepare for any legislative proposal that may follow that review.
Resilience and reporting in focus
The change of emphasis matters because MiCA's rules are largely written, leaving how they are applied day to day to national regulators. ESMA's coordination role will shape how consistently CASPs are supervised across the bloc, and how far firms can serve EU clients from outside it.