MiCA Enforcement Focus Shifts to Supervision, ESMA Chair Says

European regulators are moving from designing crypto rules to enforcing them in a more consistent way. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said its work under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) will increasingly center on supervision, aiming to align how national regulators oversee crypto asset service providers (CASPs) as implementation deepens.

ESMA Chair Verena Ross said Monday that the regulator’s attention has shifted “from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence,” adding that the goal is to let innovation proceed within a framework that supports investor protection and market confidence.

Key takeaways

• ESMA’s 2027 priorities under MiCA emphasize cross-country supervisory convergence for CASPs as rules move into enforcement.
• Operational resilience, outsourcing risk, and liquidity are among the main themes ESMA will address alongside supervision of reverse solicitation and asset classification.
• ESMA plans to harmonize how CASPs report periodically to national regulators and to develop common risk indicators and supervisory dashboards.
• ESMA will push forward MIDAS, its centralized system intended to help monitor potential market abuse, with the first phase targeted for full operation in 2027.

From MiCA rule design to supervisory convergence

In remarks delivered during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Ross framed ESMA’s role as shifting toward implementation. Rather than focusing primarily on drafting and refining legal requirements, she described a move toward supervision and the alignment of supervisory practices across member states.

That distinction matters for market participants because enforcement approaches can shape day-to-day compliance burdens. When supervision is consistent, CASPs typically face fewer discrepancies across jurisdictions on issues such as reporting, risk assessments, and ongoing monitoring.

ESMA’s 2027 work program: where supervision will concentrate

ESMA laid out its 2027 priorities in a work program published Monday. According to the regulator, it intends to strengthen coordination among national regulators supervising CASPs, focusing on practical areas that can influence how firms operate and how regulators evaluate risk.

The program highlights operational resilience and outsourcing risks—both critical under a compliance regime where regulators will expect firms to demonstrate they can maintain services, manage disruptions, and oversee third-party dependencies. The work program also points to liquidity, reverse solicitation, and asset classification as specific subjects ESMA wants supervisors to address with a more shared approach.

In addition to identifying themes for oversight, ESMA also aims to standardize parts of the supervisory workflow. The plan includes harmonizing CASPs’ periodic reporting to national regulators, developing common risk indicators, and promoting supervisory dashboards that can support monitoring across countries rather than relying solely on fragmented local views.

MIDAS expansion targets market abuse monitoring

ESMA’s work program also details progress on MIDAS, described as the authority’s centralized crypto-market surveillance system for monitoring potential market abuse under MiCA. The regulator expects the system’s first phase to become fully operational in 2027.

ESMA previously disclosed plans for a second phase in February. Monday’s program indicates that the next steps will include analytical upgrades and expanding the range of data available for surveillance. The rollout for that expanded stage is scheduled for the fourth quarter, contingent on approval by ESMA’s board.

For investors and traders, a surveillance system that improves cross-border detection of irregularities can be an important element of market integrity. While MIDAS is an internal supervisory tool, the outcome—more consistent oversight of conduct—can affect how quickly concerns are investigated and how uniformly rules are applied.

MiCA review inputs and the regulatory timeline to watch

Beyond day-to-day supervision, ESMA said it plans to feed supervisory experience into the European Commission’s review of MiCA, which is expected by June 2027. ESMA also intends to prepare for any legislative proposal that may follow the review process.

This is a key point for the market: supervisory findings often influence how regulations evolve, particularly where supervisors identify gaps between written requirements and real-world compliance challenges. With ESMA moving toward more coordinated enforcement in 2027, its perspective could shape what lawmakers consider during the MiCA review.

As ESMA’s first wave of operational convergence takes hold, market participants should watch how harmonized reporting and MIDAS rollout proceed in 2027, and whether ESMA’s supervisory experience feeds into concrete MiCA adjustments ahead of the Commission’s review expected by June 2027.