ESMA Sets 2027 MiCA Supervision Priorities for Crypto Firms

The European Securities and Markets Authority will make operational resilience, outsourcing and supervisory coordination central to its 2027 oversight of crypto firms under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.

ESMA’s work program, published Sept. 28, sets priorities for supervising crypto-asset service providers across the European Union as implementation of MiCA moves into a continuing oversight phase. The framework matters to U.S. crypto companies operating in Europe because it governs authorization and ongoing supervision for firms serving the bloc’s market.

ESMA will coordinate national regulators on operational resilience, outsourcing risks, liquidity, reverse solicitation and asset classification. It also plans to promote common risk indicators and supervisory dashboards while standardizing periodic reports submitted by crypto-asset service providers, or CASPs, to national authorities.

ESMA Chair Verena Ross said the regulator’s MiCA work had moved “from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence.” She said the goal was to support innovation while providing clarity for firms, investor safeguards and confidence in financial markets.

The regulator also plans to advance MIDAS, its centralized system for monitoring potential market abuse in crypto markets. ESMA expects the system’s first phase to be fully operational in 2027. A planned second phase would add analytical tools and broaden the data available, with rollout scheduled for the fourth quarter subject to board approval.

The work program also calls for ESMA to use its supervisory experience in the European Commission’s review of MiCA, which is expected by June 2027. That process could be followed by a legislative proposal.

The 2027 priorities extend European crypto oversight beyond the initial rulemaking and authorization work. National regulators will remain responsible for supervision, while ESMA works to make approaches and reporting more consistent across the bloc.