© AdobeStock/RafMaster The European Commission has launched a broad consultation on the MiCA Regulation to assess its impact and identify the changes needed in the face of rapidly transforming financial markets. Crédit Agricole, firmly committed to the development of digital finance, has made a significant contribution through CACEIS, calling for a regulatory framework that is stable, coherent and open to innovation.
MiCA: A Key European Framework for Crypto-Assets
Adopted in June 2023, the MiCA Regulation (Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation) marks a major milestone in the supervision of crypto-assets in Europe. Under the legislation, the European Commission is required to assess the effects of the regulation and produce a report by June 2027. The four-month consultation took the form of two questionnaires: one for the general public and one for professionals in the financial markets and digital assets sectors.
The consultation covers four main themes:
- the classification of crypto-assets other than asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMTs), and the adequacy of the current conditions for offering them to the public and admitting them to trading;
- the regime applicable to issuers of stablecoins - ARTs and EMTs - in light of market developments and the regulatory environment for stablecoins;
- the adequacy of the current scope of crypto-asset services;
- a broader reflection on developments outside the current scope of MiCA that may warrant future regulatory intervention.
Crédit Agricole's Contribution and CACEIS' Key Role
Crédit Agricole's response is fully aligned with this process, with CACEIS contributing in line with its commitment to and ambitions in digital finance.
CACEIS has chosen to engage fully within the MiCA framework, having successively obtained DSAP status in France in 2023, VASP status in Luxembourg in 2024 and CASP status in June 2025, before becoming a Euro stablecoin issuer in June 2026. CACEIS Bank has thus become the first French bank authorised under MiCA and is one of only four banks in Europe to have issued stablecoins to date.
Hubert Grignon Dumoulin
Digital Assets Senior Expert
"MiCA has brought clarity and confidence to an emerging segment of the financial markets. Our participation in this consultation forms part of a long-term vision: to build a stable framework that supports innovation without undermining investor security," says Hubert Grignon Dumoulin, Digital Assets Senior Expert at CACEIS.
On this basis, tokenised financial instruments fall in principle within existing financial regulation (MiFID II, MiFIR, Prospectus Regulation, CSDR, etc.), as do tokenised bank deposits, which fall within banking law and the framework applicable to deposits. The European Commission aims to better understand how these products interact with crypto-assets regulated under MiCA and whether regulatory inconsistencies arise.
Crédit Agricole's Main Proposals on MiCA 2
Crédit Agricole's main proposals advocate an approach based on stability and coherence of regulatory scopes.
The Group recommends maintaining the current scopes of the regulations governing financial instruments (MiFID/MiFIR) and crypto-assets (MiCA), without calling into question the statuses of the various service providers or the definition of their activities.With regard to MiCA itself, a prudent approach is favoured: the desired amendments remain limited, while remaining open to the integration of new activities such as decentralised finance (DeFi) or crypto-asset lending.
As regards stablecoins, CACEIS has also highlighted the specificities peculiar to issuers with bank status, whereas the majority of players issuing stablecoins are not credit institutions.
Crédit Agricole also stresses the need to be able to develop several new digital means of payment in parallel - whether central bank digital currency, tokenised deposits or EMTs - on the basis of complementarity.
"The coexistence of several forms of money and new means of payment - central bank digital currency, tokenised deposits, EMTs - is a strategic priority for us. The aim is not to set them against one another, but to create a harmonised, secure and efficient ecosystem for our clients and for the markets as a whole," explains Hubert Grignon Dumoulin.
Towards Convergence Between Traditional Finance and Digital Finance
By incorporating these new themes into the MiCA 2 consultation, beyond the Regulation's initial scope, the European Commission has aroused the interest of numerous financial institutions that had hitherto had only limited exposure to crypto-assets. Debates have intensified among market participants, some of whom see this as the beginnings of a future regulatory framework for tokenised financial instruments, or even a possible influence on ongoing negotiations in the Council of the European Union and European Parliament on the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP).
"We are convinced that the coming years will see a gradual convergence between traditional finance and digital finance. Tokenisation activities, stablecoins and new forms of money will become integrated at the heart of banking services, with the same level of requirement in terms of security, compliance and client service. CACEIS is positioning itself today to support this movement and turn it into a lever for sustainable growth for Crédit Agricole," concludes Hubert Grignon Dumoulin.
