EU Reviews Whether to Bring Crypto Lending Under MiCA

The European Commission is evaluating whether crypto lending, including DeFi vaults, should be brought under the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. According to ChainCatcher, a targeted consultation began on May 20, 2026, with feedback due by September 30.MiCA originally excluded crypto lending and partially excluded fully decentralized activities, but Brussels is now reviewing those gaps. EU digital assets lawyer Yuriy Brisov said EU law does not recognize a separate category for vaults, and that lawyers must define them by function rather than label.Brisov said vaults spread lending functions across smart contracts and multiple participants, such as owners, curators, allocators, and sentinels in Morpho Vault V2, making it difficult to identify a single regulated entity. Jonathan Galea, a partner at Cahill, said DeFi lending should not be treated as a single label because products with different structures could otherwise be regulated in the same way.Curve founder Michael Egorov said any regulation should distinguish between different DeFi models, arguing that DeFi does not need all the protections of traditional lending but may require other rules.