Guides · White papers
Do you need a MiCA white paper? Article 4 exemptions explained
By Arturo Ferrándiz Fernández, regulatory compliance consultant · Last reviewed 29 September 2026 · 8-minute read
In short. Offering a token to the public in the EU normally requires a white paper that is drawn up, notified to your home authority and published. Article 4 of MiCA gives two kinds of relief: small or professional-only offers skip the white paper but keep the marketing rules, and a short list of cases (free tokens, validation rewards, existing utility, limited networks) falls outside the offer rules altogether. The details decide which case you are in.
The default rule: Article 4(1)
For crypto-assets other than stablecoins, a person may only offer them to the public in the EU if it:
| Point | Requirement |
|---|---|
| (a) | is a legal person; |
| (b) | has drawn up a white paper in line with Article 6; |
| (c) | has notified it under Article 8; |
| (d) | has published it under Article 9; |
| (e) | has drafted any marketing communications in line with Article 7; |
| (f) | complies with the offeror requirements in Article 14. |
Relief one: small, private or professional offers (Article 4(2))
Points (b), (c), (d) and (f) above do not apply, so no white paper is needed, where the offer is:
- made to fewer than 150 natural or legal persons per Member State, acting on their own account;
- worth no more than EUR 1,000,000 in total, or the equivalent in another currency or in crypto-assets, over 12 months from the start of the offer;
- addressed solely to qualified investors, where the token can only be held by qualified investors.
What still applies: you must still be a legal person, and your marketing must still meet Article 7. Teams often read "no white paper" as "no rules". It is not.
Relief two: cases outside the offer rules (Article 4(3))
The Title on offers of these crypto-assets does not apply to offers where:
- the token is offered for free;
- it is created automatically as a reward for maintaining the ledger or validating transactions;
- it is a utility token giving access to a good or service that already exists or is in operation;
- the holder can use it only for goods and services in a limited network of merchants with contractual arrangements with the offeror.
Watch the definition of "free". A token is not offered for free if people must give personal data to get it, or if the offeror receives fees, commissions or other benefits in exchange. Airdrops that require an email, a KYC check or paid tasks may not qualify. Watch the size of limited networks. When the total consideration exceeds EUR 1,000,000 over 12 months, the offeror must notify the competent authority, which decides whether the exemption applies.
Some of this relief falls away once you communicate an intention to seek admission to trading (Art. 4(4)), and a listing on an EU trading platform brings in Article 5, which has its own white paper rules. Check your plan before you announce a listing.
If you do need one: notify, then publish
| Step | Rule | Practical point |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Art. 6 and Annex I | Use the prescribed content and the machine-readable format set by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2984. Include the mandatory statements and the summary warnings. |
| Notify | Art. 8 | Send it to the competent authority of your home Member State at least 20 working days before publication. In Spain that is the CNMV. Authorities do not approve white papers. |
| Publish | Art. 9 | Publish it on your website, publicly accessible, before the offer starts, and keep it available while the token is held by the public. |
| Market | Art. 7(2) | No marketing before publication. See our Article 7 checklist. |
| Sell | Art. 13 | Retail buyers who buy directly from you or through a placing service have 14 calendar days to withdraw, unless the token was already admitted to trading before they bought. |
The offeror and its management body are liable for information in the white paper that is incomplete, unfair, unclear or misleading (Art. 15). Infringements of Articles 4 to 14 carry fines of at least up to EUR 5 million or 3% of annual turnover for legal persons (Art. 111(3)).
A quick way to place yourself
- Is the token a financial instrument, an e-money token or an asset-referenced token? Then Article 4 is not your rule. Start with classification.
- Is it free (in the strict sense above), a validation reward, access to a live product, or usable only in a limited network? Then the offer rules may not apply at all.
- Are you selling to fewer than 150 people per country, raising no more than EUR 1 million in 12 months, or selling only to qualified investors? Then no white paper, but Article 7 still governs your marketing.
- Otherwise: white paper, notification, publication, then marketing.
Not sure which case you are in? The MiCA Readiness Review starts with classification and the exemptions, and tells you what your launch needs, with the article behind each point, within 72 working hours.
This guide is general information about EU law as it stood on the date above. It is not legal advice and does not create a client relationship. Source: Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on EUR-Lex.