Classification of crypto-assets within the MiCA framework

A type of crypto-assets that aims to maintain a stable value by referencing another value or right, or a combination thereof, including one or more official currencies, and meets the following characteristics:

• can be referenced to another asset, one or more official currencies, other crypto-assets or their combination;
• can be redeemed at market value;
• it cannot be subject to interest payments.

A type of crypto-assets that purports to maintain a stable value by referencing the value of one official currency and meets the following characteristics:

• issuers can only be credit institutions or e-money institutions;
• it cannot be subject to interest payments;
• all EMTs are considered e-money under the Electronic Money Directive (but not all forms of e-money are considered EMTs).

The EBA classifies tokens as significant if at least three criteria are met:

• the number of holders of the token is larger than 10 million;
• the value of the token issued, its market capitalisation or the size of the reserve of assets of the issuer of the asset-referenced token is higher than EUR 5 000 000 000;
• the average number and average aggregate value of transactions in that token per day during the relevant period is higher than 2.5 million transactions and EUR 500 000 000 respectively;
• the significance of the activities of the issuer of the token on an international scale, including the use of the asset-referenced token for payments and remittances;
• the issuer of the token is a provider of core platform services;
• the significance of the activities of the issuer of the token on an international scale, including the use of the  token for payments and remittances;
• the interconnectedness of the token or its issuers with the financial system.

A crypto-asset means a digital representation of value or rights which may be transferred and stored electronically, using the distributed ledger technology (DLT) or a similar technology.

A utility token is a type of crypto-assets whose sole purpose is to provide access to a good or service offered by the issuer of this token.

The requirements for the offer to the public (Title II of the MiCA Regulation) do not apply to crypto-assets:

• that are offered for free;
• that serve as a reward for the maintenance of the distributed ledger or the validation of transactions;             
• whose offer concerns a utility token providing access to an existing good or service;
• that are used only within a limited network of merchants with contractual arrangements with the offeror.

• Financial instruments Transferable securities
• Money market instruments
• Crowdfunding investment assets
• Derivative contracts
• EU issuance quotas

Transferable securities (Article 4(1), point (44) of MiFiD) means those classes of securities which are negotiable on the capital market, with the exception of instruments of payment, such as:

• shares in companies and other securities equivalent to shares in companies, partnerships or other entities, and depositary receipts in respect of shares;
• bonds or other forms of securitised debt, including depositary receipts in respect of such securities;
• any other securities giving the right to acquire or sell any such transferable securities or giving rise to a cash settlement determined by reference to transferable securities, currencies, interest rates or yields, commodities or other indices or measures.

A complete list of definitions and classifications can be found in the ESMA consultation paper "On the draft Guidelines on the conditions and criteria for the qualification of crypto-assets as financial instruments"