ESMA publishes Q&As on access-fee crowdfunding platforms and CASP payment accounts

Key points

• The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published new Q&As on 16 October 2026.
• One concerns crowdfunding service providers that charge registration, membership or other access fees, which ESMA labels "investment club" platforms (reference 2950).
• The other falls under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and concerns CASPs' use of payment accounts provided by non-bank payment service providers.
• The notice is tagged CCP, and Digital Finance and Innovation.
• The answers are held in ESMA's Q&A database; the notice excerpt does not reproduce them.

What ESMA published

ESMA, the EU's securities markets regulator, announced the update on its ["New Q&As available" news page](https://esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/new-qas-available-27). The notice is dated 16 October 2026 and carries two topic tags: CCP, and Digital Finance and Innovation.

The page works as a listing. It names each new question and groups it under the framework it relates to. The full question and answer text is kept in ESMA's Q&A database.

Crowdfunding platforms that charge access fees

The first item sits under the heading for European crowdfunding service providers for business. It concerns providers that charge registration, membership or other access fees. ESMA puts the label "investment club" crowdfunding platforms in quotation marks for this group.

The question is numbered 2950. Its database entry is ESMA_QA_2950, according to the fact-checker's notes on this story.

CASPs and payment accounts under MiCA

The second item is filed under MiCA. Its title concerns the use by CASPs of payment accounts provided by non-bank payment service providers. CASPs are crypto-asset service providers, the firms that MiCA brings into its authorisation regime.

The notice excerpt reviewed for this article cuts off partway through that title. The wording on non-bank payment service providers comes from the full ESMA item title, as confirmed in the fact-check. The excerpt gives no reference number for this item.

What this report does not cover

The notice excerpt does not set out what ESMA answered in either item. This article therefore does not describe the substance of the answers or say whether they alter any firm's obligations. That detail is in the database entries.

Dates also need care. Third-party sources give different dates for the answer numbered 2949: 6 October 2026 in one and 28 August 2026 in another. The only date confirmed here is 16 October 2026, the date of the ESMA notice. Individual answer dates should be taken from the database.

What happens next

The sources describe no further steps or deadlines. The full answers can be read in ESMA's Q&A database, where the crowdfunding item appears as ESMA_QA_2950. The database record also shows the date of each answer.