Circle says the European Union’s full rollout of the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework has created a gap between MiCA’s aims and the stablecoin market now available to users in the bloc. According to Patrick Hansen, Circle’s senior director for EU strategy and policy, the rules have helped authorize a growing group of compliant issuers, but they have also left most of the largest global stablecoin providers outside the regime.
Hansen argues that this has produced an awkward outcome: MiCA has brought some local activity under supervision, yet many EU users still cannot access leading stablecoins through the new framework. He says the next review of the rules should focus on making the regime more competitive and better aligned with the global market.
Licensed growth, but only for a narrow group
Hansen said MiCA has so far led to the licensing of 35 electronic money tokens from 21 issuers. In his view, that shows there is genuine appetite for regulated stablecoin activity in Europe and that companies are prepared to invest under the framework.
He also said the rollout appears to be working for local issuers, adding that established institutions are committing to the sector and that more large European companies could enter during the next 12 months. His assessment was that the current regime has created real momentum, at least for firms able to meet its requirements.
Major issuers remain outside the framework
At the same time, Hansen said MiCA’s operating requirements are too strict for most of the biggest stablecoin issuers. He pointed to Tether as one of the major providers that remains outside the framework after the final implementation of all MiCA provisions.
According to Hansen, only USDG, USDC and EURC currently meet the standard he described. He said the rest of the leading market sits beyond MiCA’s perimeter, leaving EU users either without protection under the bloc’s rules or cut off from access altogether.
That, he argued, is a significant weakness for a framework that was meant to bring global stablecoin activity under EU supervision rather than split the market between compliant local products and widely used offshore ones.
Circle calls for a more pragmatic review
Hansen said the coming review of MiCA should address this mismatch. In his view, the framework needs to do more than support domestic electronic money token issuers inside Europe; it should also give them room to scale beyond the region and create a workable path for foreign issuers to participate.
His proposal, as described in the source report, is for a more pragmatic approach that would allow overseas stablecoin issuers to operate in the EU without necessarily being subject to exactly the same rules as locally based firms. The stated goal is to capture more of the global stablecoin market within EU oversight while keeping the bloc competitive.
Consultation runs through September
The European Commission has already opened the process that could shape any changes. On May 20, the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union launched a public consultation to examine whether the current MiCA framework remains fit for purpose.
The consultation stays open until September 30. One part of that process specifically looks at electronic money tokens and their issuers, making it the next confirmed venue for debate over whether MiCA should be adjusted to better accommodate foreign stablecoin providers while preserving its supervisory aims.
Source: news.bitcoin.com