The European Union should shift its regulatory focus toward tokenization and real-world assets instead of creating new rules for decentralized finance, according to a key architect of the bloc’s crypto regulation.
Peter Kerstens, an adviser at the European Commission who helped design the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), said the EU should broaden its digital asset framework rather than rush to regulate DeFi through a second version of MiCA. He made the comments during a fireside chat at the WAIB Summit Monaco 2026.
MiCA review underway
The European Commission launched a public consultation on MiCA in May, with feedback accepted through Aug. 31. This review comes as MiCA approaches the end of its transitional period on July 1. After that date, crypto asset service providers will need a MiCA license or must stop serving EU clients.
Kerstens dismissed concerns that MiCA is already outdated. “I do not believe that [MiCA] is outdated now. That’s my personal opinion, but it does not matter. That’s why we have this consultation,” he said. The feedback collected during this period will help determine the bloc’s next regulatory steps.
DeFi regulation challenges
Decentralized finance protocols were listed among emerging risk areas in the consultation, even though they largely fall outside MiCA’s current scope. But Kerstens argued that regulating DeFi presents practical difficulties. Laws can be applied to people and organizations, he explained, but not directly to computer networks. Lawmakers would need an entirely new legal doctrine to regulate non-entities, he added.
Kerstens said he doesn’t see a need to regulate DeFi, which he described as a “movement” with “no representatives.”
Central bank questions DAO decentralization
Not everyone agrees. A working paper from the European Central Bank, published in March, questioned whether decentralized autonomous organizations are truly decentralized enough to remain outside MiCA’s scope. Researchers examined Aave, MakerDAO, Ampleforth and Uniswap, finding that the top 100 governance token holders controlled over 80% of the supply in each protocol, based on snapshot data from November 2022 and May 2023.
The authors suggested these findings raise doubts about whether DAOs are inherently decentralized and whether they should continue to be treated as “fully decentralized” services exempt from MiCA.
For now, Kerstens appears to favor a broader approach. He believes the EU should prioritize building a comprehensive framework for tokenized assets rather than getting bogged down trying to regulate DeFi protocols that may not fit traditional legal structures.
