TLDR
The European Union is preparing a formal review of its MiCA crypto rules, including a public industry consultation that could lay the groundwork for a MiCA 2 update.
- EU officials plan a broad MiCA review and no taboos consultation in 2026, with a legal review report due by 30 June 2027.
- Changes are likely to focus on supervision, stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs and how burdensome MiCA is for smaller firms compared with large institutions.
- Over 2026 to 2027, firms should expect more centralised oversight at EU level and use the consultation window to push for workable rules and timelines.
Deep Dive
1. What The MiCA Review Involves
At Paris Blockchain Week 2026, European Commission adviser Peter Kerstens said the Commission will review MiCA and launch a public consultation with no taboos, explicitly raising the prospect of a future MiCA 2 update. A built in review clause already requires the Commission to report on MiCAs application by 30 June 2027 and, if needed, propose legislative changes, similar to how MiFID later evolved into MiFID II. Stablecoin rules started applying in June 2024 and the remaining MiCA provisions took effect from December 2024, so the review will look at how the framework works in practice across all 27 member states.
MiCA is not being scrapped, but Brussels is opening the door to adjust and extend it once there is evidence from live implementation.
2. Likely Focus Areas For Changes
Kerstens and other officials have flagged DeFi, NFTs, environmental disclosures and cross border issues as areas where MiCA 1.0 is thin or ambiguous, and the consultation is expected to explicitly ask how to handle them. Stablecoins are another hotspot, with Circle and others pushing to relax limits around euro stablecoins, while central banks like the Bank of France advocate tighter controls on dollar pegged tokens and stronger support for euro based options. At the same time, MiCAs licensing, capital and compliance requirements are proving heavy for startups, with six figure yearly costs and long authorisation timelines, leading to consolidation and relocations inside the EU.
Large, well capitalised players may push for clearer expansion paths, while smaller firms will likely lobby for proportionality, lighter tiers and less rigid stablecoin caps.
3. Centralised Supervision And What To Watch
In parallel, the European Central Bank has backed a proposal to move supervision of major crypto firms from national regulators to the EU markets watchdog ESMA, which would sit on top of MiCA and provide single point oversight for large cross border CASPs. Some member states that built local MiCA regimes, such as Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta, are pushing back, warning that constant rule changes could undermine MiCAs credibility. The political process around both the MiCA review and ESMAs expanded powers will run through 2026 and beyond, with industry consultation a key input.
Over the next one to two years, the most effective hedge for EU facing projects is engagement, submitting detailed feedback on pain points rather than assuming MiCA as written is fixed forever.
Conclusion
The EU is not abandoning MiCA, it is moving into the next phase where real world experience, market growth and supervisory concerns feed into version two of the rulebook. For crypto businesses serving Europe, the opportunity is to shape that outcome through the consultation, while planning for a world of stricter, more centralised supervision that will favour firms that can demonstrate strong compliance and robust, EU friendly product design.
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