How an e-money token works
The issuer issues the token at par value when it receives funds, and each holder has a claim against the issuer. On request, the issuer redeems the token at any time and at par, in funds other than electronic money, and may not charge a fee for it.
MiCA also sets how the money received is kept. At least 30% is deposited in separate accounts at banks, and the rest is invested in secure, low-risk, highly liquid assets in the same currency as the token.
Interest is banned. Neither the issuer nor a crypto-asset service provider may grant it, and any benefit tied to how long a holder keeps the token counts as interest.
Who may issue or offer an e-money token
In the EU, only the issuer may offer an e-money token to the public or seek its admission to trading. The issuer has to be authorised as a credit institution or an electronic money institution, and to have notified and published a white paper. Others may do either only with the issuer's written consent.
A token in a currency that is not an official currency of a member state faces a limit on its use as a means of exchange. If that use within one currency area passes 1 million transactions and EUR 200,000,000 a day, on a quarterly average, the issuer has to stop issuing.
Dates, and the overlap with payment rules
MiCA's rules on e-money tokens have applied since 30 June 2024, six months before the rest of the regulation.
E-money tokens are also funds under EU payment law. In a No Action letter of June 2025, the European Banking Authority advised national authorities to treat transfers of e-money tokens for clients, and custodial wallets that send and receive them, as payment services under PSD2, and to require that authorisation only after a transition ending on 2 March 2026. The same letter advised them not to treat the exchange of crypto-assets for funds as a payment service.
An EBA opinion of 12 February 2026 set out the conditions on which a provider still without that authorisation may continue after 2 March 2026.
E-money token, asset-referenced token or stablecoin?
- Stablecoin
- An everyday word, not a category in MiCA. MiCA sorts a value-stabilised token by what it references: one official currency makes it an e-money token, anything else an asset-referenced token.
- Asset-referenced token (ART)
- References another value or right, or a combination, such as a basket of currencies. Redemption is at the market value of the referenced assets rather than at par, and the issuer need not be a bank or an e-money institution.
- Electronic money
- MiCA deems an e-money token to be electronic money. What sets the token apart is that it is stored and transferred on a distributed ledger.
Where an e-money token shows up in a platform
Modules that do the work
- Custody & walletsWallets on every major chain, with MPC custody from leading providers or your own keys.
- CheckoutA hosted checkout for cards, wallets, bank payments and crypto, routed to the best provider.
- LedgerThe double-entry book of record behind every balance, fee and transfer.
- FXCurrency conversion with live rates, your margins and the liquidity provider you choose.
- PayoutsMoney out to bank accounts, cards and wallets, on the rail that fits each payment.
Platforms that need it
Guides that go deeper
- Stablecoin payments for EU merchants: MiCA, USDC and the Travel RuleWhat a stablecoin checkout for EU merchants needs: MiCA and payment licences, why USDC and not USDT, Travel Rule checks on self-hosted wallets, euro settlement and refunds.
- Stablecoin B2B payments: how paying suppliers abroad worksHow a stablecoin payment to a supplier abroad moves, from euros in to local currency out, what changes against correspondent banking, and the rules in the EU, the UK and the UAE.
- Crypto on-ramps: how a buy widget works and who needs the licenceHow a fiat-to-crypto buy widget works inside another company's app, who the regulated party is, and the rules on UK promotions, card fraud, the Travel Rule, MiCA and VARA.
Where it is written
The laws and standards this page's facts come from.
- Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, MiCA, Articles 3, 23, 48 to 50, 54 and 58 (EUR-Lex)
- EBA, No Action letter on the interplay between PSD2 and MiCA, June 2025
- EBA, Opinion on the end of the transition period under the No Action letter, 12 February 2026
General information, not legal advice: what applies to you depends on your services and your market.