What is asset-referenced token (ART)?
Under European Union rules, a crypto-asset that stabilizes its value by referencing several currencies, commodities, other crypto-assets, or a basket of them, rather than one official currency.
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In this entry
Under European Union rules, a crypto-asset that stabilizes its value by referencing several currencies, commodities, other crypto-assets, or a basket of them, rather than one official currency.
It carries heavier obligations than an e-money token, including authorization, reserve, and governance requirements set out in Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, and the rules provide for tighter supervision where a token becomes significant by size or use. The distinction is what the token references, not how well it holds its peg.
This is a legal category, not a technical one. Two tokens with identical smart contracts fall into different regimes depending on what they claim to track, and that classification decides who may issue them and whether an EU venue may list them.
How it works
Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, known as MiCA, splits crypto-assets into three buckets. An e money token references a single official currency. An asset-referenced token references anything else used to stabilize value, including baskets, commodities, or other crypto-assets. Everything remaining falls into a residual category with lighter rules.
Issuing an ART requires authorization from a national competent authority, or being an authorized credit institution, and publication of an approved crypto-asset white paper. The issuer must maintain a reserve of assets segregated from its own, held with custodians, and must give holders a redemption right.
The regulation also creates a significance test based on measures such as holder numbers, market value, and transaction counts, moving supervision of tokens that cross those thresholds to the European Banking Authority.
Because MiCA gives the residual category no reserve obligations, the classification question determines the whole compliance burden. Tokens tracking gold, a currency basket, or a mix of crypto-assets sit in the ART bucket by design.
Example
Illustrative comparison of the three MiCA categories.
| What the token references | MiCA category | Core obligations |
|---|---|---|
| One official currency, such as the euro | E-money token | Issued at par against reserves, redemption at any time |
| A basket of currencies, a commodity, or crypto-assets | Asset-referenced token | Authorization, segregated reserve, redemption right, governance rules |
| Nothing used to stabilize value | Other crypto-asset | White paper and marketing rules only |
Illustrative summary of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114; the regulation itself is the authoritative text.
Why it matters when you buy
If you buy in the European Union, this classification is why some tokens vanished from local venues while similar ones stayed. A token in the ART bucket without authorization cannot be offered to the public there, so availability is a legal fact rather than a commercial one. Check what is offered where you live at the jurisdiction pages and the exchange directory.
Related terms
- e money token — the single-currency category with lighter rules
- mica — the regulation that creates both categories
- stablecoin — the market term these legal categories cut across
- casp — the licensed service providers that may list them
- redemption — the right holders are given
- algorithmic stablecoin — a design that cannot meet the reserve rules
Questions
Is a gold-backed token an asset-referenced token?
Under MiCA a token stabilizing its value by referencing a commodity falls within the asset-referenced category rather than the e-money one, which is the heavier of the two regimes.
Why did some stablecoins get delisted in the European Union?
Because offering a token in either stablecoin category to the EU public requires an authorized issuer and an approved white paper. Venues removed tokens whose issuers had not completed that.
Does this apply outside the European Union?
No. MiCA is EU law. Other jurisdictions classify the same tokens differently, which is why availability of a given asset varies by country.