The final implementation of all MiCA provisions has created a regulatory sandbox that leaves Europe disconnected from major stablecoin providers. Circle’s Senior Director, EU Strategy & Policy, Patrick Hansen, stressed that a review is necessary to make the framework more competitive and globally aligned.
Key Takeaways
MiCA licensed 35 tokens, but excluded major issuers like Tether, leaving many EU users unprotected.Strict MiCA rules cut off EU users from global stablecoins, limiting market access for major tokens.The EU opened a public consultation through September to revise MiCA and accommodate foreign issuers.Hansen explained that MiCA has led to the licensing of 35 e-money tokens from 21 issuers, showing that interest in the space is there, with companies ready to invest a nd bring stablecoins to the table. “Real institutions are betting on this space and many large EU corporations will enter over the next 12 months. Implementation is working well for local issuers. Momentum is real,” he stressed.
“The rest sits outside MiCA’s perimeter – meaning EU users are either unprotected or cut off. For a framework designed to bring global stablecoin markets under its EU supervision, that’s a significant gap,” he assessed.
Hansen believes that an upcoming review of MiCA should address this issue, as the framework should gather the global stablecoin activity under its umbrella and allow local e-money token issuers to scale beyond Europe’s borders. He suggests a more pragmatic approach to open a path for foreign issuers to operate without facing the same rules as their local counterparts.
