Tether’s main objection to MiCA reserve rules
According to Techub News, citing Cointelegraph, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said in an interview one year ago that he had chosen not to apply for a MiCA license. His reasoning was that the framework’s reserve rules for stablecoins were, in his view, “dangerous” and “poorly conceived.” Those comments have now resurfaced as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regime marks one year since taking effect.
Ardoino’s criticism focused specifically on the requirement that part of a stablecoin issuer’s reserves be placed within the banking system. In his view, that kind of structure does not simply create a compliance burden. It may also introduce an additional layer of fragility if market stress emerges and redemption pressure rises at the same time that banks themselves face liquidity concerns.
The risk scenario highlighted by Ardoino
Ardoino argued that MiCA’s reserve design could increase the risk of bank runs. If stablecoin reserves are required to be held in banks, pressure in one part of the system could spill into the other. Under a stressed environment, concentrated redemption demand could interact with banking-sector weakness, turning reserve management into a channel for contagion rather than a safeguard.
His remarks therefore framed the issue as a matter of systemic design rather than opposition to regulation in general. The core of the critique was that the specific reserve framework may not be robust enough and could create systemic threats for the crypto industry instead of reducing them.
The comments are receiving renewed attention because MiCA is now in its implementation phase and its practical impact is being tested more directly. For stablecoin issuers, the questions of whether to seek licensing, how to structure reserves, and how to adapt treasury operations to EU rules remain central to their European strategy.