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The last implementation of each MiCA provisions has created a regulatory sandbox that leaves Europe disconnected from large stablecoin providers. Circle’s Senior Director, EU Strategy & Policy, Patrick Hansen, stressed that a reappraisal is indispensable to marque the model much competitory and globally aligned.
Published: Aug 6, 2026, 5:01 PM
Key Takeaways
- MiCA licensed 35 tokens, but excluded large issuers similar Tether, leaving galore EU users unprotected.
- Strict MiCA rules chopped disconnected EU users from planetary stablecoins, limiting marketplace entree for large tokens.
- The EU opened a nationalist consultation done September to revise MiCA and accommodate overseas issuers.
MiCA’s Current Implementation Leaves EU Users ‘Unprotected oregon Cut Off’
While the implementation of afloat Markets successful Crypto Assets (MiCA) provisions has closed the spread regarding the cognition of unlicensed exchanges successful Europe, it has besides brought large disruptions to the stablecoin ecosystem owed to its restrictive licensing attack for issuers.
Patrick Hansen, Senior Director of EU Strategy & Policy astatine Circle, raised concerns astir the authorities of the regulated stablecoin ecosystem successful Europe and however the existent model leaves European customers extracurricular the information nets that MiCA provides.
Hansen explained that MiCA has led to the licensing of 35 e-money tokens from 21 issuers, showing that involvement successful the abstraction is there, with companies acceptable to put a nd bring stablecoins to the table. “Real institutions are betting connected this abstraction and galore ample EU corporations volition participate implicit the adjacent 12 months. Implementation is moving good for section issuers. Momentum is real,” helium stressed.
Nonetheless, MiCA’s stringent provisions person near most of the apical stablecoin issuers, including Tether, incapable to comply with its operating requirements, with lone USDG, USDC and EURC passing the framework’s bar.
“The remainder sits extracurricular MiCA’s perimeter – meaning EU users are either unprotected oregon chopped off. For a model designed to bring planetary stablecoin markets nether its EU supervision, that’s a important gap,” helium assessed.
Hansen believes that an upcoming reappraisal of MiCA should code this issue, arsenic the model should stitchery the planetary stablecoin enactment nether its umbrella and let section e-money token issuers to standard beyond Europe’s borders. He suggests a much pragmatic attack to unfastened a way for overseas issuers to run without facing the aforesaid rules arsenic their section counterparts.
On May 20, the EU’s Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union opened a nationalist consultation to reappraisal whether “the existent model remains acceptable for purpose.” The process volition stay unfastened until September 30 and specifically addresses physics wealth tokens and their issuers successful 1 of its parts.
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