TL;DR:
- Circle states that USDC is the one stablecoin within the prime 10 by market capitalization that complies with the EU’s MiCA regulatory framework.
- The 60% reserves rule in EU banks led Tether to exit the European market and discontinue its EURT stablecoin.
- Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and OKX eliminated USDT pairs for his or her European customers, though mixture volumes barely modified.
The European stablecoin market is present process its largest reshaping because the sector was created. Circle has change into the primary beneficiary of the total implementation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Property (MiCA) regulation.
The agency said that its stablecoin USDC is the just one among the many ten largest by market capitalization that complies with the brand new regulatory framework. The corporate additionally famous that its euro-backed token, EURC, acquired approval below the identical guidelines.
Based on Circle’s devoted European regulatory web page, each tokens could be totally redeemed in fiat forex, maintain segregated reserves, periodic attestation reviews and redemption mechanisms accessible to the general public. Circle printed its reserves report on August 3.
Circle Can Dominate The European Market
The requirement that proved hardest to satisfy for main issuers was the so-called 60% rule: stablecoins categorized as “vital” should keep no less than that proportion of their reserves in financial institution deposits throughout the EU. USDT meets all of the quantitative standards that set off that categorization, together with greater than 10 million customers and a market capitalization exceeding €5 billion.
Tether selected to exit the European market slightly than adjust to that requirement. Its CEO, Paolo Ardoino, warned that shifting belongings from U.S. Treasury bonds to industrial financial institution deposits might compromise the stablecoin’s stability during times of monetary stress. He additionally discontinued EURT, its euro-pegged token.
Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and OKX eliminated USDT pairs for his or her European shoppers to keep away from breaching the MiCA framework. Nonetheless, a research printed in July 2026 by LUISS economist Nicola Borri and College of Surrey researcher Kirill Shakhnov signifies that USDT and USDC market shares “barely moved” following the delistings. In Europe, Circle’s share within the USDT-USDC pair grew by roughly 6%, pushed primarily by a 20% drop in USDT quantity slightly than a rise in demand for USDC.
The Rise of Euro Stablecoins
In the meantime, the euro stablecoin market set an all-time file. Knowledge from DefiLlama present that MiCA-compliant euro-denominated tokens approached $900 million by mid-2026. A consortium of 9 European banks, together with BBVA, ING and UniCredit, introduced the launch of a euro stablecoin below the identical framework, signaling that conventional banking views tokenized cash as a core element of the funds system of the long run.
Even so, euro stablecoins account for lower than 1% of the worldwide stablecoin market, estimated at round $300 billion, the place the greenback continues to dominate decisively.
