Mica | Crypto

Speaking on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction, Christian Trummer said MiCA has increased trust in regulated platforms and called for stricter enforcement against noncompliant firms. European crypto users are placing more trust in regulated platforms following the implementation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework (MiCA), according to Christian Trummer, co-CEO of Austria-based crypto exchange Bitpanda. Speaking on Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction, Trummer said most users have “more faith” in regulated market participants and trust those platforms following the rollout of MiCA.   He contrasted that with what he described as a “Crypto Twitter” bubble focused on self-custody, saying most users prefer regulated providers rather than managing their own private keys.   Read more

Circle wants the EU to replace mandatory bank-deposit minimums with more flexible liquidity rules and preserve cross-border stablecoin issuance. Stablecoin issuer Circle urged the European Commission to revise reserve requirements in its response to a consultation on reviewing the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). In Thursday’s summary of its response, the USDC and EURC issuer said mandatory bank-deposit requirements expose stablecoin issuers to banking-sector credit and counterparty risks. Circle faced those risks firsthand in March 2023, when USDC temporarily lost its dollar peg after the company disclosed that $3.3 billion of its reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank. The funds were subsequently made available after US authorities protected the bank’s depositors. Read more

A 50,000-letter campaign is pressing Brussels to rethink stablecoin rewards as EU central banks seek broader changes to MiCA’s stablecoin rules. More than 50,000 Europeans have urged the European Commission to loosen restrictions on stablecoin rewards as part of its review of the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, according to crypto advocacy group Stand With Crypto EU. The campaign came as the Commission closed its MiCA review consultation on Wednesday, with Stand With Crypto EU pushing for regulated stablecoin providers to be allowed to offer incentives including cashback, loyalty benefits and fee reductions. The group said more than 50,000 supporters wrote to the Commission during the consultation, while more than 126,000 people have separately signed its petition calling for a more permissive EU approach to stablecoins. Read more

As the European Commission’s MiCA review consultation closes, Europe must decide whether its crypto rulebook is protecting the market without making it too costly to build in. When the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) came into force, it did something that had eluded the digital asset sector in Europe for years: it created a single, coherent rulebook. For the first time, a crypto asset service provider (CASP) authorized in one Member State can passport its services across the European Union and European Economic Area, and clients across the bloc can choose among a growing field of licensed, supervised providers. That is a genuine achievement, and one the industry should not take for granted. As the consultation on MiCA’s review closes, the focus should now be on calibration: keeping what works, and being honest about where the compliance burden has grown faster than the risks it is meant to address. Read more

Greece joined the EU MiCA register with four providers as HCMC expanded its denial of remarks attributed to officials in a report on Binance. Greece has entered the European Union’s crypto regulatory register for the first time, with four providers added. Four Greek providers — BCash, Xenios Blockchain Group, Capital Wallet Greece and Piraeus Bank — appeared on the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) register updated Thursday. Six other crypto-asset service providers from Germany, France and Slovenia were added, bringing the register to 359 unique providers. Read more

ESMA will focus on CASP resilience, outsourcing and reverse solicitation while pursuing harmonized reporting across national regulators. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will focus its coordination of national crypto supervision in 2027 on operational resilience, outsourcing and firms maintaining sufficient operations inside the bloc as implementation deepens under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). ESMA Chair Verena Ross said Monday that the regulator’s focus under MiCA had shifted “from rulemaking towards supervision and convergence.” “We want innovation to flourish within a framework that provides clarity for firms, safeguards for investors and confidence in the markets,” Ross said during a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. Read more

The EBA outlined potential rules for crypto lending and firms providing access to DeFi protocols as part of the European Commission’s MiCA review. The European Banking Authority (EBA) has called for crypto lending to be brought under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework as regulators consider potential changes to MiCA.  In a response to the European Commission’s (EC) targeted consultation on MiCA, the EBA said crypto borrowing and lending should be regulated, including where crypto asset service providers facilitate access to decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols. The regulator recommended that the EC conduct a cost-benefit analysis of legislative changes that could add intermediating crypto borrowing and lending to the list of services regulated under MiCA, potentially adding specific compliance requirements and oversight activity. It also suggested requirements for crypto firms that provide clients access to DeFi lending protocols. Read more

The reported plan swaps mandatory bank deposits for one-day and five-day liquidity tests, shifting where redemption risk lands. The post EU central banks attack MiCA rules and stablecoin runs are blamed appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The ECB and EU central banks want to replace MiCA’s stablecoin bank-deposit requirements with liquidity thresholds, warning that sudden withdrawals could strain lenders. The European Central Bank (ECB) and EU central banks want to replace mandatory bank-deposit thresholds for stablecoin reserves with new liquidity requirements, arguing that large stablecoin deposits could create liquidity risks for banks. The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) called for removing rules requiring at least 30% of reserves, or 60% for significant stablecoins, to be held as bank deposits. The proposal came in the ESCB’s response, published Tuesday, to the European Commission’s review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Instead of the existing bank-deposit rules, the ESCB backed minimum liquidity thresholds for reserve assets maturing within one and five working days. It separately pointed to overnight reverse repurchase agreements (repos) and short-term sovereign bonds as alternative instruments issuers could ...

Banks now represent nearly one in four providers on ESMA’s MiCA register after roughly doubling their presence since late June. Banks are rapidly expanding their presence in Europe’s regulated crypto market, with traditional lenders now accounting for nearly one in four providers listed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework (MiCA). The number of banks on the EU’s MiCA crypto provider list doubled to about 80 from roughly 40 between June 26 and Sept. 16, according to a Cointelegraph analysis of MiCA register data from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The overall number of listed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) rose from 243 to 349 over the period, but non-bank providers lost ground in relative terms, with their share falling from about 84% to 77%. Read more

Although the ECB holds no formal licensing authority under MiCA, high-level intervention led Greece to stall an application that regulators had previously deemed complete, the Journal said.

Germany expands its lead in EU MiCA authorizations with 79 crypto asset service providers, ahead of France and the Netherlands. Germany widened its lead in the number of providers licensed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), with six of its cooperative banks added in the latest register update. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its MiCA register on Friday, bringing the number of authorized crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to 331. Compared with an update from Aug. 12, the six additions were all German cooperative banks: Raiffeisenbank Aidlingen, Ihre Volksbank, VR-Bank Mittelfranken Mitte, Volksbank Euskirchen, VR Bank Ried-Überwald and Volksbank Backnang. Read more

Brussels is reviewing whether crypto lending should fall under MiCA, but DeFi lending vaults are making it harder to determine who, exactly, should be regulated. MiCA left crypto lending outside its original rulebook — but now Brussels is considering whether to bring it in. On May 20, 2026, the European Commission asked stakeholders to weigh in on areas left outside the original Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework. These include issues around decentralized finance (DeFi) and crypto lending and borrowing. One area of contention involves lending vaults, which can channel billions of dollars into onchain credit markets without looking like conventional lending. Their legal status currently depends on non binding interpretations that they fall outside of MiCA and EU fund rules. Read more

USDT is disappearing from regulated European platforms, but there is little sign that it has resulted in weakening global demand for Tether. Europe’s crackdown on Tether’s USDT is entering a new phase. When Revolut told European users it would delist USDT after Aug. 31, it became another in a long line of European platforms restricting access to the world’s largest stablecoin as firms adapt to the requirements of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. MiCA’s stablecoin rules have been phasing in since 2024, and the EU-wide transition period ended on July 1, putting further pressure on platforms to drop tokens that don’t meet the rules. Read more

The FMA said Bitpanda breached MiCA rules on crypto white papers and marketing communications, with the decision now final. [Update 10:40 UTC, Aug. 17: This article has been updated to include a statement from Bitpanda in sixth and seventh paragraphs.] Austria’s financial regulator has fined crypto platform Bitpanda 70,000 euros ($82,000) for violating the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, in the watchdog’s first published final penalty under MiCA. The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) said Friday that Bitpanda failed to submit a crypto-asset white paper to the regulator at least 20 working days before its publication, as required under MiCA. Read more

Slovenia entered the EU’s MiCA stablecoin register through electronic money institution Dinaro, as the update also added two new CASPs. Slovenia has appeared for the first time in the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register of electronic money token (EMT) issuers. Dinaro, a Slovenia-based electronic money institution supervised by the Bank of Slovenia, joined the EMT list in the latest European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) register update on Wednesday. According to its website, Dinaro provides payment services, including card issuing and acquiring, and says it holds Mastercard principal membership. Its addition marks the first appearance of a Slovenia-based issuer in ESMA’s EMT dataset. Read more

Stripe-owned Bridge has entered the EU MiCA register following Luxembourg approval, joining regulated providers under the bloc’s crypto framework. Bridge Building, the Luxembourg-based entity behind Stripe-owned stablecoin infrastructure company Bridge, has joined the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register after receiving regulatory approval in Luxembourg. Bridge’s inclusion brings the number of MiCA-authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers in the EU register to 42, according to the latest European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) update published on Wednesday. The addition came weeks after Bridge announced on July 2 that it had secured a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization under MiCA and an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from Luxembourg’s Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. Bridge’s Head of Product, Mai Leduc Blount, said the approvals allow businesses in the EU to build stablecoin and payment products under a regulated frame...

Blockchain.com secured a VASP custody license from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, expanding its regulated crypto services in the region. Blockchain.com has secured a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority to offer custody services. Granted on July 22, 2026, the license allows the cryptocurrency services company to provide regulated crypto custody services in the Cayman Islands, according to a Thursday announcement reviewed by Cointelegraph. The license followed a conditional approval issued by CIMA in December 2025. The license also allows Blockchain.com to provide crypto-to-fiat and crypto-to-crypto exchange services. The company has held a VASP registration in the Cayman Islands since May 2022. Read more

Criminals are reportedly using fake websites and falsified documents to target customers searching for licensed crypto providers. Fraudsters are impersonating financial regulators and crypto businesses to target customers of crypto service providers that have failed to secure European Union licenses, according to officials cited by the Financial Times. Several of the bloc’s watchdogs have reportedly seen an increase in scams since the July 1 deadline that required firms to obtain authorization under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation. Companies that failed to secure approval must wind down or transfer their EU operations, forcing customers to move their assets.  Stéphane Pontoizeau, an official at France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), said the regulator encountered cases in which fraudsters impersonated AMF representatives, directing users to transfer assets to them through fake websites.  Read more

ESMA’s latest MiCA update brings the number of authorized CASPs to 321 and adds three entities to its non-compliant register. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) added 12 companies to its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) register in its fourth update since the July 1 transitional deadline. Published on July 31, the update brings the total number of authorized crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) listed under MiCA to 321. The latest additions include three German cooperative banks: Volksbank Raiffeisenbank Oberbayern Südost, VR Bank Schleswig-Holstein Mitte and VR-Bank Landau-Mengkofen. The list also includes two companies in Spain — Basque Pay and Fintech Payments — and four in France — Finary, Woorton, Blockchain Process Security and Shares Financial Assets. Read more