ECB Backs ESMA-Led Crypto Supervision in EU: Tighter MiCA Enforcement Incoming
The European Central Bank (ECB) has formally backed a proposal to transfer crypto-asset service provider supervision to the European Securities and Markets Authority – a move that would collapse 27 fragmented national licensing regimes into a single Paris-based enforcement framework.
The ECB’s opinion, issued in response to the European Commission’s 2025 capital markets package (COM/2025/941, 942, 943), positions ESMA as the direct supervisor of systemically relevant crypto-asset service providers across the EU.
The push is already drawing resistance from member states that built their regulatory infrastructure – and licensing revenue – around MiCA’s national competent authority model.
Ireland, Luxembourg, and Malta have emerged as preferred crypto licensing jurisdictions under the current framework. Centralized ESMA oversight would strip that competitive advantage overnight.
The question isn’t whether the ECB wants this. It clearly does. The question is whether the Commission’s capital markets package can survive the member state resistance long enough to make it law.
#USMilitaryToBlockadeStraitOfHormuz
The European Central Bank (ECB) has formally backed a proposal to transfer crypto-asset service provider supervision to the European Securities and Markets Authority – a move that would collapse 27 fragmented national licensing regimes into a single Paris-based enforcement framework.
The ECB’s opinion, issued in response to the European Commission’s 2025 capital markets package (COM/2025/941, 942, 943), positions ESMA as the direct supervisor of systemically relevant crypto-asset service providers across the EU.
The push is already drawing resistance from member states that built their regulatory infrastructure – and licensing revenue – around MiCA’s national competent authority model.
Ireland, Luxembourg, and Malta have emerged as preferred crypto licensing jurisdictions under the current framework. Centralized ESMA oversight would strip that competitive advantage overnight.
The question isn’t whether the ECB wants this. It clearly does. The question is whether the Commission’s capital markets package can survive the member state resistance long enough to make it law.
#USMilitaryToBlockadeStraitOfHormuz