EU Open to Altering Stablecoin Rules Amid Global Regulatory Shifts

Circle, the issuer of USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin with over $74 billion in market capitalization, has submitted several recommendations to review the current Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation.

The company proposed tackling the foreign stablecoin issue in MiCA, pushing the Union to close the perimeter and capture the largest global tokens inside its regulatory action.

Circle stressed that out of the largest 25 stablecoins by market capitalization, only three were regulated under MiCA, and of those three, two (USDC, EURC) were issued by the company. It advocated for maintaining the multi-issuance model, which allows for the co-issuance of international stablecoins by a MiCA-regulated institution and a foreign counterpart.

Patrick Hansen, Director, EU Strategy & Policy at Circle, warned that failing to maintain it would incentivize stablecoin users to jump to offshore exchanges where they lack the protections that MiCA was designed to extend.