A category with no members yet
How many asset-referenced tokens are authorized in the EU? ESMA’s interim MiCA register has a file for their issuers. In the update dated November 5, 2026, that file holds column headings and nothing else.
The e-money token file in the same update lists 25 issuers, so every stablecoin issuer in ESMA’s files sits on the e-money side. The dividing line is in Article 3 of MiCA. A token that references one official currency is an e-money token, while one that references another value or right, or a combination of them, including two or more currencies, is an ART.
Stricter rules than for e-money tokens
Title III of the regulation sets the terms. Under Article 16, only an issuer authorized under Article 21, or a bank that meets Article 17, may offer an ART to the public or seek its admission to trading.
Two kinds of offer skip authorization but still need a white paper. One is a token whose average outstanding value never exceeds €5 million over 12 months, and the other is an offer made only to qualified investors, who alone may hold the token.
Redemption works differently too. An e-money token is redeemed at par, whereas Article 39 gives an ART holder either cash equal to the market value of the referenced assets or delivery of those assets. Article 40 bans interest.
There is also a ceiling on everyday use. If the estimated quarterly average of transactions using an ART as a means of exchange within one currency area tops 1 million a day and €200 million a day in value, Article 23 says the issuer must stop issuing it and, within 40 working days, submit a plan to bring use back below both figures.
The design does not decide the label
Could an algorithmic coin sidestep all this? Recital 41 of MiCA answers no. Title III or IV applies “irrespective of how the issuer intends to design the crypto-asset”, including the mechanism used to keep its value stable, and the recital names so-called algorithmic stablecoins as covered too. What a token references decides its category.
In the UK and the US
Neither country uses the term. Britain’s Cryptoassets Regulations 2026 define a qualifying stablecoin by reference to one fiat currency, and add that a token aiming at a stable value against any other asset is not one, even when that asset’s value is stated in a fiat currency. The GENIUS Act ties a US payment stablecoin to a fixed amount of “monetary value”, which it defines as a national currency or a deposit denominated in one.
In the EU, the European Banking Authority writes the technical standards and guidelines that sit under these rules. A first authorized issuer would appear in ESMA’s file, which the authority says it republishes weekly.