Europe's securities regulator proposed a new regulated service for businesses that connect customers to decentralised finance on September 30. ESMA's MiCA review response also calls for more explicit safeguards around staking, lending and borrowing. The publication is a policy recommendation to the European Commission, not an amendment that takes effect today.
The proposed DeFi gateway category concerns intermediaries that give clients access to protocols. In its detailed response, ESMA describes interfaces that enable interaction with smart contracts and services that route customer transactions. It suggests duties covering protocol due diligence, risk disclosure, routing transparency, conflicts of interest and operational security.
For example, an intermediary that chooses lending protocols for customers and directs transactions toward them could fall within the proposed category. ESMA says obligations should be proportionate to the provider's control over the underlying protocol. It also explicitly distinguishes open-source development, self-custody and permissionless infrastructure from activities that automatically constitute regulated intermediation.
That makes the operator's role more relevant than whether a product labels itself decentralised. ESMA separately asks for clearer criteria defining fully decentralised services, citing divergent interpretations across EU countries.
Staking already has an important distinction under existing guidance. An ESMA-published answer from the European Commission says MiCA does not prohibit staking itself. Intermediaries that hold customers' assets or keys while staking on their behalf provide a service ancillary to custody and need the relevant custody authorisation. The answer also addresses customer consent and the ability to return assets.
Today's recommendations would develop that framework further; they do not mean every person staking directly must obtain a new licence. Nor do they establish an immediate ban on DeFi access.
The Commission's consultation page gives September 30 as the extended response deadline. Readers should watch for a subsequent legislative proposal and its final scope before treating ESMA's suggested gateway category as an enforceable new requirement.