Regulation 1114/2023 (the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA) became fully applicable in January 2025. Since then, many businesses have successfully received authorization from national competent authorities to provide services with crypto-assets, or to offer crypto-assets to the public.
One of MiCA’s singularities, in comparison with other national regulatory frameworks, is the way it regulates the commercialization of crypto-assets known as stablecoins. Stablecoins are generally defined as crypto-assets that reference the value of an official currency, making them attractive instruments for cross-border payments. MiCA regulates two types of stablecoins: asset-reference tokens (ARTs) and e-money tokens (EMTs). The difference between both types is, according to the regulation, the value that is being referenced by the crypto-asset: if it is only the value of one official currency (like the euro or the US dollar), then the token falls under the definition of EMT; however, if the value referenced is the value of more than one official currency (like a basket of currencies) or the value of another asset or right (for example, the value of a commodity, or of other crypto-assets), then the token falls under the definition of an ART.
The definition of these regulatory categories is not straightforward, since tokens that reference the value of a basket of currencies or other assets – like the once-proposed stablecoin issued by Meta, Libra Diem – are actually referencing the value that results from that basket, that is usually denominated in just one official currency (in the case of Libra Diem, the US dollar). Therefore, in practice, one must assess whether the value of the assets underlying the reference value (also known as the reserve of assets) matters more than the value of the reference currency that is at stake (irrespective of the composition of the reserve of assets).
Another issue with the concept of an ART is how certain tokens, such as liquid staking tokens or derivative tokens (ie, tokens whose value is connected to tokens that are staked in a distributed ledger, or whose value is connected to an external asset) may fall under their category, thus overlapping with securities regulation.
These doubts are now being resolved through supervisory action. In March 2025, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (known as BaFin) ordered German company Ethena GmbH to stop offering a token, USDe, to the public, on the grounds that the company failed to comply with MiCA requirements. USDe is a stablecoin that references the value of the US dollar, but its reserve of assets is exclusively composed by other crypto-assets, such as Bitcoin and Ether.
For BaFin, this meant that Ethena GmbH was issuing an ART and, therefore, required the necessary authorization to offer it to the public. Although Ethena requested such authorization, BaFin found that the company did not comply with the necessary requirements. Furthermore, BaFin suspects that sUSDe, a version of USDe that Ethena GmbH was distributing to holders of the latter, may be an unregistered security, given that it grants holders the return of their investment in USDe, together with additional yield.
This is the first time a business has refused to offer an ART under MiCA to the public. The BaFin was not worried about the referenced value (the dollar), but with the actives supporting such value (the reserve). It also considered that the staking token was not an ART, although it referenced the value of an external asset, and may be a security, given that it grants investment value to its holders.
This action by BaFin regarding Ethena serves as an important indication of how other national competent authorities in the EU may react when classifying tokens under MiCA, and, consequently, give businesses an idea of what will be expected from them.
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