TechFlow news — Patrick Hansen, Circle's Director of EU Strategy and Policy, provided a detailed explanation on the scope of application of the MiCA regulation, mainly including:
- Utility tokens designed and used within specific networks are not subject to MiCA; crypto asset products with fewer than 150 users per EU member state or targeting only qualified investors, whose total value does not exceed €1 million over 12 months, also fall outside MiCA’s jurisdiction.
- Non-transferable digital assets are not covered by MiCA’s regulatory framework. Notably, lending of crypto assets, including electronic money tokens, is explicitly excluded from regulation; crypto asset services provided in a "fully decentralized manner" are also unregulated. Similarly, crypto assets without an identifiable issuer and lacking a white paper fall outside MiCA’s scope.
- While MiCA does not cover all NFTs, digital art, or collectibles, widely distributed series or collections remain within the regulatory framework.
- Exemptions also apply to providers of hardware or software for non-custodial wallets. Intragroup transactions, public entities, international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as well as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), are excluded from MiCA provisions.
