ESMA orders MiCA firms to halt services for non-compliant stablecoins

Europe has put a date on Tether’s exit from its regulated crypto market. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has told MiCA-authorized crypto firms to stop dealing in non-compliant stablecoins by January 8, 2027. The directive came in an opinion ESMA issued on October 8, 2026. That leaves platforms three months to finish a wind-down that, in practice, started long before the regulator made it official. What ESMA actually ordered The opinion covers MiCA-authorized crypto-asset service providers, known as CASPs. These are the licensed exchanges, brokers and custodians operating under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Under ESMA’s guidance, those firms must cease services tied to stablecoins that fail MiCA’s rules. The opinion specifically targets two categories: asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. An e-money token is a stablecoin pegged to a single currency, like the dollar or euro, while an asset-referenced token tracks a basket of assets. Once the opinion was published, CASPs had to immediately halt new trading in non-compliant stablecoins and stop clients from building bigger positions. What remains is a supervised wind-down. During that window, ...