Circle has reached a significant milestone by becoming the first global stablecoin issuer to acquire an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, a crucial requirement for offering cryptocurrency tokens pegged to the dollar and euro within the regulatory framework of the European Union (EU), particularly under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regime.
This licensing achievement places Circle in a prime position to expand its market share among the 27 million residents of the 450-nation bloc, as it seeks to solidify its position in the stablecoin market. USDC, its stablecoin, is second only to Tether’s USDT in terms of adoption. Stablecoins like USDC play a pivotal role in the digital asset ecosystem, facilitating operations on exchanges and increasingly being utilized in transactions and remittances. With a market value of US$32 billion, USDC remains the second largest stablecoin, trailing only behind Tether, which leads with US$110 billion in USDT.
With approval from the French banking authority in hand, Circle Mint France intends to commence localized issuance of its euro-denominated stablecoin, EURC, and continue to issue USDC from the same entity. This move precedes the enforcement of MiCA standards for stablecoins on June 30, prompting some cryptocurrency exchanges to opt for the delisting of euro-denominated stablecoins, such as Tether’s EURT.
MiCA’s new rules for stablecoins have emerged as a direct response to the growing presence of big tech in the financial market, as exemplified by Meta’s Diem (formerly Libra) project.
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