Europe Has 29 Regulated Stablecoins Under MiCA, So Why Zero Asset-Backed Ones?

Europe’s regulated stablecoin market is growing under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), but one entire category remains empty. Nearly two years after MiCA took full effect, not a single asset-referenced token has been authorized in the EU.

Data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) shows 19 licensed issuers and 29 regulated stablecoins, while the parallel track for commodity- and basket-backed tokens is at zero.

What the Numbers Actually Show

MiCA, which came into full force on December 30, 2024, splits regulated stablecoins into two distinct categories.

• Electronic money tokens (EMTs) are backed by a single fiat currency.

• Asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) are backed by baskets of assets, commodities, or non-currency assets such as gold.

The March 2026 update to ESMA’s interim MiCA register shows 19 authorized EMT issuers spread across 11 countries, up from 17 issuers in 10 countries just two months earlier.

France leads with 5 licensed issuers, followed by Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, and the Netherlands with 2 each.

Of the 29 EMTs now in circulation, 17 are euro-denominated, 9 are dollar-denominated, and 3 are tied to the Czech koruna, British pound, and Swiss franc respectively.

The ART column remains at zero.

A Gap That Points to Structural Problems

MiCA dedicates two full titles, Titles III and IV, to ARTs. Their absence is not a coincidence or an oversight. It raises a direct question about whether the regulatory requirements are workable.

Accordig to Patrick Hansen, Circle’s EU Strategy and Policy executive, this is a sign of deeper friction in the framework.

“Still 0(!) ARTs, nearly two years in. Since ARTs… cover a significant part of the framework (Titles III and IV), this continued lack of uptake points to structural barriers. The upcoming MiCA review is an opportunity to address those barriers and make the ART regime workable in practice,” Hansen wrote.

Hansen also noted that even the authorized EMTs are not yet reaching beyond crypto markets.

Asked whether regulated stablecoins are being used by institutions or non-crypto users, he described adoption as “mostly crypto still but growing out of it.”

That assessment matters in context.

Among the top 50 stablecoins by market cap, Hansen noted that only USDC, USDG, and EURC currently meet MiCA compliance standards, a narrow slice of the global stablecoin market.

Enforcement Pressure Is Building

The stablecoin data arrives as ESMA increases pressure on crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) to obtain authorization before their national transitional periods close.

Most grandfathering periods expire by July 1, 2026, with no further extensions expected.

In December 2025, ESMA issued a statement requiring unauthorized CASPs to have orderly wind-down plans in place. They also instructed national regulators to treat last-minute applications with “considerable caution.”

For stablecoin issuers, the compliance window is narrowing. The white paper iXBRL format requirement entered application in December 2025, and order book record-keeping rules in JSON format took effect in April 2025.

The ART question is likely to surface in the upcoming MiCA review. Whether regulators treat the zero-authorization rate as a policy failure or a feature of deliberate caution will shape how the framework handles commodity-backed and basket-backed tokens going forward.