ECB Pushes for Stricter Stablecoin Rules in Wake of MiCA Review

The European System of Central Banks has urged Brussels to strengthen stablecoin rules by keeping the ban on stablecoin interest and expanding it to crypto lending, borrowing, and staking services. The response to the MiCA review consultation published September 22 argues that these activities 'replicate the economic effect of interest payments through ancillary or unregulated services.'

The central banks also propose replacing fixed minimum bank-deposit requirements with liquidity rules tied to how quickly reserve assets can be turned into cash. This shift would apply to stablecoin issuers, which are already building regulated infrastructure across the EU.

The ESCB has flagged risks from non-euro stablecoins and called for stronger supervision of large crypto firms, including moving oversight of all crypto-asset service providers to the European Securities and Markets Authority.