Europe’s top securities regulator has asked the European Commission to extend the MiCA rulebook into DeFi, staking and influencer marketing, in a filing published on the final day of the bloc’s public consultation on Sept. 30. The European Securities and Markets Authority says the current framework leaves too much of the crypto market outside supervision and gives national regulators no way to police it.
What ESMA is asking for
The filing, posted on ESMA’s website with the reference ESMA75-113276571-1721, lays out a series of targeted amendments. The regulator wants MiCA to define new regulated services for crypto asset service providers that act as gateways to DeFi, so that firms routing clients to decentralized exchanges, lending protocols or staking mechanisms fall inside the licensing regime.
It also asks for targeted conduct, disclosure and safeguarding requirements for staking, lending and borrowing services offered by authorized CASPs. ESMA is explicit that staking should not automatically be treated as lending or portfolio management, since it is a core technical function of proof-of-stake networks, but argues that investor protection risks in staking arrangements need their own rules.
A third request covers marketing. MiCA’s marketing rules do not currently apply to influencers and third parties who promote crypto assets on behalf of issuers and CASPs, and ESMA wants that changed, with corresponding enforcement powers for national competent authorities.
| ESMA demand | What it would change |
|---|---|
| DeFi gateway services | New regulated services for CASPs routing clients to DeFi protocols |
| Staking rules | Conduct, disclosure and safeguarding requirements, without reclassifying staking as lending |
| Influencer marketing | Obligations for third parties promoting crypto, with enforcement powers for NCAs |
| Token classification | Binding opinions from ESMA to remove legal uncertainty |
| Unauthorized stablecoins | Tighter rules against tokens issued outside the MiCA perimeter |
Why the timing matters
The European Commission’s targeted consultation on the MiCA review closed at midnight on Sept. 30, and ESMA submitted on the deadline. The review was built into MiCA from the start, and this round is the first formal opportunity to amend the text since the stablecoin provisions took effect in June 2024 and the rest of the package in December 2024.
The submission lands alongside pressure from the European Central Bank, which has used the same consultation to argue for scrapping the bank deposit requirement for stablecoin reserves. Industry respondents have pushed the other way, asking for simplification and burden reduction. ESMA’s own executive summary says the review should focus on removing legal uncertainty and preventing regulatory arbitrage while simplifying requirements where possible, a framing that tries to square the expansion with the industry’s cost complaints.
The DeFi gateway problem
ESMA says it observed the growth of a specific business model during early implementation: authorized CASPs that facilitate client access to DeFi products and protocols, including decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, and staking or restaking mechanisms. Under the current text, the CASP holds a license, but the protocol it connects to does not, and the client’s funds move into an unregulated environment with no MiCA conduct protections.
Creating a new regulated service category for this activity would put the gateway itself on the hook for disclosures, conflicts of interest and safeguarding of client assets. Industry lawyers have questioned how a protocol with no legal entity could ever be brought inside a licensing regime, and ESMA’s answer is to regulate the on-ramp rather than the protocol, which is the same approach US legislators have debated in the market structure bills stalled in the Senate.
Staking without reclassification
The staking section is the part most watched by exchanges and liquid staking providers. ESMA recognizes that staking is a core technical function of proof-of-stake networks and should not automatically be treated as lending or portfolio management, which would have triggered far heavier prudential requirements. Instead it asks for targeted conduct, disclosure and safeguarding requirements, an approach closer to disclosure reform than reclassification.
For yield-bearing stablecoins in particular, the practical effect would be documentation requirements: issuers would need to state how yield is generated, what counterparty risk sits behind it, and what happens in a slashing event or a peg loss. Marketing material would need to carry the same warnings as other investment products.
Supervisory powers and token classification
Two quieter items in the filing could matter as much as the headline asks. The first is a request for enhanced supervisory powers, including the ability to issue binding opinions on whether a given token falls inside or outside MiCA’s scope. Token classification disputes have dragged on since the text took effect, and a binding opinion mechanism would give issuers a way to settle the question without litigation in each member state.
The second is cross-border coordination. ESMA wants a clearer role in coordinating enforcement so that firms cannot arbitrage differences between national regulators, a complaint that has grown as NCAs have applied the rulebook unevenly across the bloc. Both items expand ESMA’s own remit, which is why industry lobbyists treat them as the real story beneath the DeFi headlines.
What happens next
The Commission now has the responses in hand and will draft any amendment proposal. There is no published timetable, but the review was framed as a way to have updated rules ready for the next legislative cycle, and officials have spoken about changes taking effect in 2027 at the earliest. ESMA’s request for binding opinions on token classification could move faster, since it expands the authority’s existing powers rather than rewriting the rulebook.
For CASPs operating in the EU, the practical reading is that the DeFi gateway business and influencer marketing campaigns that look clean today are the two areas most likely to pick up new obligations. Firms have already begun adjusting disclosure documents for staking products on the assumption that something in ESMA’s list survives the legislative process.