Art. 50 Prohibition of granting interest | MiCA regulation | MiCA

This article establishes a clear prohibition on interest for e-money tokens, applying it to both issuers of e-money tokens and crypto-asset service providers offering related services.

It explicitly overrides Article 12 of Directive 2009/110/EC, meaning this regulation takes precedence on this specific point.

The article also closes potential loopholes by defining "interest" broadly, ensuring that economically equivalent arrangements cannot be used to circumvent the prohibition.

Important points:

Do not grant interest on e-money tokens, whether you are an issuer or a crypto-asset service provider offering related services.
The prohibition on interest explicitly overrides Article 12 of Directive 2009/110/EC.
The definition of interest is intentionally broad, capturing any remuneration, benefit, discount, or net compensation linked to the duration of holding an e-money token, including arrangements involving third parties or other products.

1. Notwithstanding Article 12 of Directive 2009/110/EC, issuers of e-money tokens shall not grant interest in relation to e-money tokens.
1. Crypto-asset service providers shall not grant interest when providing crypto-asset services related to e-money tokens.
1. For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2, any remuneration or any other benefit related to the length of time during which a holder of an e-money token holds such e-money token shall be treated as interest. That includes net compensation or discounts, with an effect equivalent to that of interest received by the holder of the e-money token, directly from the issuer or from third parties, and directly associated to the e-money token or from the remuneration or pricing of other products.

Article 50 Prohibition of granting interest

Relevant recitals