The European Securities and Markets Authority will concentrate its 2027 work under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation on coordinating national supervisors and applying the rules more consistently across the bloc. The change marks a move away from designing the framework toward overseeing how licensed crypto-asset service providers operate in practice.

ESMA Chair Verena Ross outlined the new direction during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday. She said the authority’s attention under MiCA had moved “from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence.”

The priorities appear in ESMA’s 2027 work program, published the same day. The regulator plans to strengthen coordination among national authorities that supervise crypto-asset service providers. Key topics include operational resilience, outsourcing risks, liquidity, reverse solicitation and the classification of crypto assets. Supervisors will also examine whether firms maintain sufficient operations inside the European Union rather than relying extensively on functions located outside the bloc.

Harmonized reporting and common tools

ESMA intends to align the periodic reports that crypto-asset service providers submit to national regulators. The authority will promote shared risk indicators and supervisory dashboards so that monitoring becomes more comparable across member states. These steps aim to reduce differences in how the same rules are applied from one country to another.

National competent authorities will continue to carry out day-to-day supervision. ESMA’s role centers on fostering consistent practices and supporting the tools that make cross-border oversight more effective.

Market surveillance system advances

A further element of the 2027 program is the continued development of MIDAS, ESMA’s centralized system for monitoring potential market abuse in crypto markets. The first phase of MIDAS is expected to become fully operational during the year. A second phase, which will add analytical capabilities and expand the range of available data, is scheduled for the fourth quarter, subject to approval by the ESMA board.

The system builds on guidelines already issued to national authorities on supervisory practices for detecting and preventing market abuse under MiCA.

Input into upcoming MiCA review

Experience gained from supervising licensed firms will be fed into the European Commission’s review of MiCA, which is expected by June 2027. ESMA will also prepare for any legislative proposal that may follow the review. The Commission has already sought public feedback on the functioning of the framework, and supervisory findings are expected to inform that process.

The 2027 agenda follows the end of the final MiCA transition period on 1 July, after which firms that previously operated under national registrations became subject to EU-wide authorization requirements. Authorized providers can use passporting rights to offer covered services across member states, while questions remain around firms that continue to serve European clients without a full MiCA license, including through reverse solicitation arrangements.

For the coming year, ESMA’s program keeps national regulators at the center of oversight while placing greater weight on coordination, shared tools and uniform application of the rules across the European Union.