Issuing a stablecoin under MiCA

Under the MiCA Regulation, a stablecoin that references a single official currency is an e-money token (EMT). Only a credit institution or an electronic money institution (EMI) may issue it, after notifying a white paper to its competent authority. ORWL Avocats advises EMT issuers, from the status of the institution through to the life of the token, including groups established outside France that set up their issuing entity in France.

Who can issue a stablecoin under MiCA?

MiCA distinguishes two families of stablecoins. An e-money token (EMT) references the value of a single official currency. An asset-referenced token (ART) references another value or a combination of values. Most European projects concern EMTs in euros or US dollars.

An EMT is electronic money. The rules of the Electronic Money Directive therefore apply to it, except where MiCA provides otherwise. To offer an EMT to the public or seek its admission to trading in the Union, the issuer must:

• be authorised as a credit institution or as an EMI;
• have notified and published a white paper that complies with MiCA;
• notify its competent authority of its intention at least 40 working days before the offer or the application for admission.

The competent authority is that of the Member State where the issuer is authorised. In France, it is the ACPR (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority). A third party, such as a trading platform, may offer the token or seek its admission, but only with the issuer’s written consent.

The starting point depends on the project. A bank or an EMI that is already authorised checks that its programme of operations covers the issuance of the token and adapts its organisation. A fintech without a status must first become an EMI: ORWL Avocats also handles electronic money institution authorisation before the ACPR.

What obligations apply to the issuer of an EMT?

MiCA adds to the electronic money rules a regime specific to EMTs. It rests on a few principles:

• the issuer issues the token at par value, on receipt of funds;
• the holder has a claim on the issuer and may obtain redemption at any time, at par value, in funds and free of charge;
• at least 30% of the funds received remain deposited in separate accounts in credit institutions; the rest is invested in highly liquid financial instruments with minimal risk, denominated in the same currency as the token;
• no interest may be granted to the holder;
• the issuer draws up a recovery plan and a redemption plan for holders.

The requirements that apply to the institution itself come on top: own funds, safeguarding of funds, governance, internal control and an anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework, which ORWL Avocats also builds for crypto-asset businesses.

How is the white paper for an EMT notified?

The white paper presents the token to those who acquire it. It describes:

• the issuer;
• the token and the offer to the public or the admission to trading;
• the rights and obligations attached to the token, including the conditions of redemption;
• the technology used and the risks;
• the principal adverse impacts of the consensus mechanism on the climate and the environment.

The document states that no authority has approved it. It follows the template set by the EU implementing technical standards and is drawn up in a machine-readable format.

The issuer notifies the white paper to the ACPR at least 20 working days before publication. This period comes on top of the 40 working days’ notice of the project itself, and the launch timetable has to allow for both. The ACPR does not approve the white paper. The issuer and the members of its management body are liable for the information it contains. Any significant new factor requires a modified white paper, which is notified in turn.

We draft the white paper, prepare both notifications and answer the ACPR’s questions. ORWL Avocats also drafts the white papers of other crypto-assets and supports their launch.

Distribution, interest and use of the stablecoin

Distribution through CASPs

An EMT circulates mainly through trading platforms and other crypto-asset service providers (CASPs). They may offer it or admit it to trading only with the issuer’s written consent, and they too must comply with the prohibition of interest and the rules on marketing communications. Platforms in the Union may offer or admit only stablecoins whose issuer complies with MiCA. We draft the distribution agreements: handling of redemption requests, information to holders, incident management, communications.

Interest and reward programmes

Neither the issuer nor CASPs may grant interest on an EMT. The concept is broad: any remuneration or other benefit linked to the length of time a holder keeps the token counts as interest, including a discount or compensation paid by a third party or built into the price of another product. We analyse every reward programme before launch, for the issuer and for its distributors alike.

EMT services and payment services

The European Banking Authority (EBA) considers that the custody and transfer of EMTs on behalf of clients are also payment services. CASPs that provide these services must then hold two statuses. The firm disputes this reading but builds its clients’ files on it: ORWL Avocats advises on dual CASP and payment institution status.

EMTs denominated in a non-EU currency

An EMT denominated in a currency that is not an official currency of a Member State, such as the US dollar, is subject to specific monitoring rules. Where its use as a means of exchange within a single currency area exceeds, on average, one million transactions and EUR 200 million per day, the issuer stops issuing it and submits to the ACPR, within 40 working days, a plan to bring its use back below those thresholds. Monitoring of these volumes should be planned from the design of the token.

Significant EMTs

The EBA classifies an EMT as significant against criteria set by MiCA: number of holders, value issued, number and value of transactions, links with the financial system. The issuing EMI then applies the reserve of assets rules that govern ARTs and higher own funds requirements, and the EBA takes part in its supervision. The ACPR may also impose some of these rules on the issuer of an EMT that is not significant.

Multi-issuance

Some groups issue the same token inside and outside the Union. MiCA does not expressly address these structures. In its May 2026 consultation on the review of the Regulation, the European Commission indicated that MiCA does not prohibit them; the European Central Bank and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) have expressed reservations. The review may change the rule: a project of this kind calls for a case-by-case analysis of the reserve, the holders’ rights and the allocation of redemptions.

Our method for issuing an EMT

We lead the regulatory side of the project, from initial scoping to the life of the token. We work with the issuer’s product, compliance and technical teams, its statutory auditors and its custodian banks.

After launch, we provide ongoing support: white paper updates, review of communications, exchanges with the ACPR during inspections. ORWL Avocats also advises on the taxation of the issuance and of the issuer through its Tax practice.

Why work with ORWL Avocats?

Since 2018, the firm has advised electronic money institutions and banks adding EMT issuance to their business, payment fintechs going through authorisation, crypto groups that want to issue a euro stablecoin and issuers established outside France that choose to set up there. It has advised several stablecoin issuers. The practice is ranked in Chambers FinTech and recognised by Leaders League.

A lawyer brings to a stablecoin issuance what a consultant cannot: the legal classification of the token and of the services around it, legal professional privilege over the project and its structure, and professional liability for the advice given. Our combined practice in payments and crypto-assets lets us handle in a single file the status of the issuer, the white paper, the distribution agreements and the exchanges with the ACPR. Our technical understanding of blockchains and smart contracts makes it easier to work with the teams that design the token.

A partner leads every matter, from scoping the project through to the life of the token.