BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Pierre E. Berger and Marc Van de Looverbosch, DLA Piper UK LLP (Brussels)
tional resilience, AML/CFT, sanctions and disclosure obligations.
to another value or right, or a combination of values or rights, including one or more official currencies. Belgian law follows that MiCA classification. A fiat- backed token referencing a single official currency will generally be analysed as an EMT. A token referencing a basket of currencies, commodities, crypto-assets or other rights will generally be analysed as an ART if it purports to maintain a stable value. Algorithmic stablecoins are not a separate Belgian legal category. Their classification depends on what value they purport to track and how the rights of hold- ers are structured. In practice, an algorithmic token that promises stability without adequate reserve, redemption and issuer arrangements may struggle to satisfy MiCA requirements. It may also raise consumer protection, market abuse and misleading marketing issues. 6.2.2 Stablecoin Regulation Fiat-backed stablecoins are regulated in Belgium through MiCA and, for EMTs, through the existing e-money framework. This is a bespoke EU crypto- asset framework layered on top of existing payments and e-money law, rather than a purely Belgian retrofit. For EMTs, only credit institutions and electronic mon- ey institutions may issue the token. EMT holders must have a claim against the issuer, and the token must be redeemable at par. Given that EMTs are treated as electronic money for key purposes, the issuer must also comply with relevant e-money, safeguarding and conduct rules. For ARTs, the issuer generally requires authorisation unless it is a credit institution satisfying the relevant MiCA conditions. ART issuers must comply with gov- ernance, own-funds, reserve, custody, investment, disclosure, complaint handling, conflict, recovery and redemption requirements. In Belgium, the Law of 11 December 2025 allocates supervisory responsibilities principally between the NBB and the FSMA, with a limited specific role for the Federal Public Service Economy for certain EMT provisions. Broadly, the NBB is central for pruden- tial aspects of ART and EMT issuers and for entities
6. Payments and Stablecoins 6.1 Payments
Payments in crypto-assets are not prohibited in Bel- gium where the payee agrees to accept them. Crypto- assets are not legal tender, so a creditor cannot gen- erally be forced to accept them unless the contract provides for payment in that asset. The legal character of the transaction may be closer to barter or settle- ment in kind than payment in money, depending on the asset and contractual terms. The regulatory treatment depends on the payment model. A merchant accepting bitcoin or another cryp- to-asset for goods or services is not, for that reason alone, providing a regulated payment service. Howev- er, an intermediary that transfers funds, issues e-mon- ey, operates payment accounts, provides acquiring, initiates payments or issues EMTs may be regulated under the Belgian Payment Institutions Act, e-money rules and/or MiCA. Stablecoins are addressed sepa- rately under MiCA. Businesses accepting crypto-assets should address pricing, exchange-rate risk, refunds, consumer infor- mation, accounting, VAT, income tax, AML/CFT, sanctions and record-keeping. Belgian rules requir- ing certain payments to be made in scriptural money, including real estate purchase price payments, may prevent settlement in crypto-assets for those transac- tions. Crypto-assets should not be used to circumvent cash-payment restrictions or AML controls. 6.2 Stablecoins 6.2.1 Fiat Currency and Algorithmic Stablecoins MiCA does not use the commercial label “stablecoin” as a standalone category. It distinguishes between e-money tokens and asset-referenced tokens. An e-money token is a type of crypto-asset that purports to maintain a stable value by reference to the value of one official currency. An asset-referenced token is a type of crypto-asset, other than an e-money token, that purports to maintain a stable value by reference
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