European Union/EU/Comparables
European Union
ESMA, EBA, national competent authorities
The closest comprehensive peer — and still the wrong translation. MiCA is a market statute with a white-paper notification, ART/EMT issuance, CASP authorisation and a passport. RCA is two US offering exemptions plus a Howey off-ramp. Title II is the Rule 103 conversation. There is no Rule 400 in the Union.
Level 1
2023/1114
ART/EMT
30 Jun 2024
CASP / rest
30 Dec 2024
Passport
Art. 109
Similar regulation
The statute book
Primary instruments, with the RCA job each one actually does. Links open the official text.
- In force
The whole market statute — issuance, CASP, market abuse
- In force
Rule 103 publicity, without EDGAR qualification
- In force
Machine-readable 103 — the NOR/1-CRYPTO XML analogue
- In force
Notification is not merit approval
Translation
Rule 100–500 map
| RCA | Peer | Fit | Desk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule 100 CIC | Crypto-asset other than ART/EMT; ART; EMT | Inverse | MiCA classifies the token. RCA classifies the investment contract around a non-security crypto asset. |
| Rule 103 disclosure | Title II white paper (Arts. 6–14) | Analogue | Prescribed contents, notified, generally not pre-approved. Liability for misleading papers is real. |
| Rule 200 $5M | No dollar-capped startup exemption | No analogue | White-paper notification has no $5 million fuse and no four-year clock. |
| Rule 300 fundraising | Title II offer to the public | Partial | Public offer of a crypto-asset other than ART/EMT, with CASP involvement in distribution. |
| Rule 400 safe harbor | None | No analogue | Decentralisation is a perimeter question (Art. 2(1)(l) DeFi exclusion debates), not a Form TR off-ramp. |
| Rule 500 preemption | Union passport / Art. 109 | Analogue | Once notified, the paper travels. NCAs remain the operational front door. |
Analysis
What the file is
MiCA Titles III and IV (asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens) applied from 30 June 2024. The rest of the book — including CASP authorisation and Title II white papers — applied from 30 December 2024. That is not a proposal. An EU distribution of a CIC-wrapped token is a MiCA problem first: is the token an ART, an EMT, or a crypto-asset other than those, and is anyone offering it a CASP?
White paper vs Rule 103
A Title II white paper is a prescribed disclosure, notified to the NCA, published, and in the ordinary case not authorised as to merit. Article 109 puts it on a public register with machine-readable classification under RTS 2025/421. Rule 103 is five principles and ten topics, website-hosted for Rule 200, circular-hosted for Rule 300. The Commission could have imported the MiCA annex. It did not. That is a comment: ask for a hash-pinned, dated 103 page with a machine-readable header, or stop pretending EDGAR-plus-website is comparable to Article 109.
Appearance on the Article 109 register is a notification fact. It is not a quality stamp, a solvency finding, or an investment recommendation.
Research
The record
- ART/EMT issuers are a banking-adjacent perimeter (own funds, reserves, recovery). That is the HK Stablecoins Ordinance / MAS SCS analogue, not Rule 200.
- The DeFi / “fully decentralised” exclusion is litigated at the perimeter, not as a self-executing Form TR. Do not cite it as a Rule 400 equivalent in a comment.
- Passporting is the thing CrowdCheck and DealMaker wanted from Reg A and did not get. RCA tries to deliver it through NSMIA §18(b)(3) instead of a Union passport. Different legal machine, same commercial complaint.
- National registers (AFM, BaFin, AMF, CONSOB) still matter. ESMA’s register is the union view of NCA notifications.
Ideation
What to file
- If you would file a Title II white paper on day one of a final RCA rule, say which exemption you would use in the US for the same token and why. That is take-up evidence.
- Ask the Commission to look at MiCA Art. 6 liability for white papers when it writes Rule 103. Website-only 103 with no civil-liability analogue is the investor-protection comment the states will file anyway.
- Do not ask RCA to licence CASPs. Ask where the US custody and exchange file will live, and whether a Rule 300 issuer may use a non-ATS venue.
Analysis
What the file is
MiCA Titles III and IV (asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens) applied from 30 June 2024. The rest of the book — including CASP authorisation and Title II white papers — applied from 30 December 2024. That is not a proposal. An EU distribution of a CIC-wrapped token is a MiCA problem first: is the token an ART, an EMT, or a crypto-asset other than those, and is anyone offering it a CASP?
White paper vs Rule 103
A Title II white paper is a prescribed disclosure, notified to the NCA, published, and in the ordinary case not authorised as to merit. Article 109 puts it on a public register with machine-readable classification under RTS 2025/421. Rule 103 is five principles and ten topics, website-hosted for Rule 200, circular-hosted for Rule 300. The Commission could have imported the MiCA annex. It did not. That is a comment: ask for a hash-pinned, dated 103 page with a machine-readable header, or stop pretending EDGAR-plus-website is comparable to Article 109.
Appearance on the Article 109 register is a notification fact. It is not a quality stamp, a solvency finding, or an investment recommendation.
Related RCA sections
Primary sources on file
Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA)
Official Journal of the European Union/9 Jun 2023/RCA review 28 Aug 2026
Primary regulatory
MiCA Article 109 — Register of crypto-asset white papers, issuers of ARTs and EMTs, and CASPs
EUR-Lex / ESMA/9 Jun 2023/RCA review 28 Aug 2026
Primary regulatory
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/421 — data classification of white papers
European Commission/12 Mar 2025/RCA review 20 Aug 2026
Primary regulatory
ESMA public register of crypto-asset white papers, ART/EMT issuers and CASPs
European Securities and Markets Authority/31 Jan 2025/RCA review 28 Aug 2026
Primary regulatory
AFM — Crypto-asset white papers under MiCA
Autoriteit Financiële Markten/15 Jan 2025/RCA review 12 Aug 2026
Primary regulatory
RCA publishes source-linked intelligence for professionals. Nothing here is a token-buying call, a legal opinion, or an “approved / safe / regulated” badge. Every material claim is dated. Incomplete files stay incomplete.