Patrick Hansen, senior director for EU strategy and policy at Circle, said the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA, still has a major blind spot in its treatment of stablecoins. In a post published on July 29, Hansen said roughly 35 electronic money tokens, or EMTs, from 21 institutions have already received compliant status since MiCA took effect, with banks and e-money firms actively entering the market and local issuance gaining traction. Even so, he said the global picture remains narrow under the current framework. Among the world’s top 50 stablecoins, only USDC, USDG and EURC currently meet MiCA requirements, leaving the rest outside the regime. According to Hansen, that creates a double problem for users in the EU: they may either lose access to major stablecoins or remain exposed without adequate protections. He argued that if MiCA is meant to serve as a global regulatory model, it needs to do two things at once: help locally issued EMTs expand internationally under a competitive regime, and create a recognition mechanism for compliant foreign stablecoins instead of making local issuance the only path to market access.
On July 29, Patrick Hansen, Circle’s senior director for EU strategy and policy, said the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) still contains a major gap in its stablecoin framework.
In a post, Hansen said that since MiCA came into force, about 35 electronic money tokens (EMTs) from 21 institutions have received compliant approval. He added that banks and electronic money institutions have been entering the market, and local issuance has gained momentum.
He also pointed to a sharp mismatch between local progress and the broader global stablecoin market. Among the world’s top 50 stablecoins, only three — USDC, USDG and EURC — currently meet MiCA requirements, while the rest remain outside the regulatory perimeter.
That leaves EU users facing what Hansen described as a two-sided problem: either lacking adequate protections or being forced to lose access to those tokens.
Hansen said MiCA will need to achieve two goals at the same time if it is to become a true global regulatory model.
- Support locally issued EMTs in expanding globally under a competitive regulatory setup.
- Establish a recognition mechanism for compliant foreign stablecoins, drawing global issuers into the MiCA framework rather than treating local issuance as the only route to entry.
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