PSD2 and MiCAR: NAL Expiry

EBA Opinion EBA/OP/2026/01 of 12 February 2026

Supervisory priorities at the expiry of the No Action Letter (NAL) transition period on PSD2 and MiCA interaction

In June 2025, the EBA issued a NAL to guide national competent authorities (NCAs) on the overlap between PSD2 and the MiCA Regulation, with specific regard to CASPs carrying out operations with e-money tokens (EMTs).

The NAL had granted a nine-month transition period, expiring on 2 March 2026, during which CASPs could continue to operate with EMTs without authorization as payment service providers, provided they initiated the authorization process under a simplified procedure.

With Opinion EBA/OP/2026/01 of 12 February 2026, the EBA advises NCAs on how to act at the expiry of the transition period, distinguishing three scenarios:

Scenario 1

The CASP has already obtained authorization as a payment institution/electronic money institution, or has entered into an agreement with an authorized PSP: in this case it can continue to operate regularly.

Scenario 2

The CASP has submitted an authorization application but has not yet obtained it. The EBA recommends that NCAs allow the continuation of operations, provided all the following conditions are met:

the application has been duly submitted with all required documentation;
the applicant cooperates fully and in a timely manner;
the NCA has verified the absence of sanctioning measures or relevant violations of MiCA or anti-money laundering regulations;
the NCA reasonably believes that authorization can be granted very shortly.

For CASPs benefiting from national transitional regimes expiring on 1 July 2026, this deadline cannot in any case be exceeded. In this scenario, the CASP must however cease all marketing activities related to EMT services qualifying as payment services and cannot acquire new clients for such services.

Scenario 3

The CASP has not submitted an application, or does not meet the conditions of Scenario 2: the NCA must impose, from 2 March 2026, the cessation of EMT services qualifying as payment services and the offboarding of clients.

The Opinion further clarifies that EMT transfers, including those between accounts of the same user, may constitute payment transactions subject to PSD2, regardless of whether the custodial wallet is classified as a payment account.

Our reading

The EBA has not classified every EMT operation as a payment service, but only a subset of crypto services involving EMTs.

The distinguishing factor lies in whether the execution of an EMT transfer can be classified as a payment transaction under Annex I of PSD2 (in particular payment service No. 3 – execution of payment transactions).

In practice, the reasoning is as follows:

The exchange of crypto-assets for funds (or vice versa) is a crypto-asset service under Art. 3(1)(16) MiCA.

However, if within such an operation the exchange custodies EMTs and executes transfers on behalf of clients — including "first-party" transfers (e.g., the transfer of EMTs from the client's custodial wallet to another wallet as part of the payout) — such transfers may in themselves constitute payment transactions subject to PSD2.

As paragraph 15 of the Opinion clarifies, this applies regardless of whether the custodial wallet is classified as a payment account or not.

Therefore: it is not the trading activity itself that triggers the PSD2 obligation, but the fact that the actual execution of the service involves EMT transfers attributable to payment transactions.

Official source:

EBA Opinion on the end of the NAL transition period (PDF)

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