More than 50,000 Europeans wrote to the European Commission during its review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, arguing that the EU’s stablecoin reward restrictions should be loosened, according to Cointribune. The Commission’s consultation, opened in May, closed on September 30. A separate petition run by Stand With Crypto EU has passed 126,000 signatures.
The campaign sits on one side of a widening split over stablecoin remuneration. The European Central Bank has pressed for a tighter ban on yields on stablecoins, while the industry group wants users of MiCA-compliant tokens to be able to collect cashback, fee discounts and loyalty rewards. In a separate filing reported by Coincentral, Circle and the Hyperliquid Policy Center asked the Commission to rewrite other parts of the rulebook.
Also read: EU seeks industry feedback on stablecoin rules, DeFi definitions in MiCA 2.0 consultation
Key facts
- Stand With Crypto EU said more than 50,000 Europeans sent a message to the Commission during the consultation; its parallel petition exceeded 126,000 signatures.
- Article 40 of MiCA bans asset-referenced token issuers and associated crypto service providers from granting interest, and Article 50 applies a similar rule to electronic money tokens.
- Coincentral reported that Circle asked the EU to loosen stablecoin reserve rules, including the requirement that at least 30% of reserves be held in bank deposits, rising to 60% for stablecoins the European Banking Authority labels “significant”.
- Circle said only three of the world’s top 30 stablecoins currently meet MiCA standards: USDC, USDG and EURC.
- The Hyperliquid Policy Center asked for perpetual futures to be regulated under MiFID II, the EU’s 2014 derivatives framework, instead of MiCA.
What the industry asked for
Stand With Crypto EU’s request is narrower than a call to scrap the yield ban. The organisation wants MiCA-compliant stablecoin users to receive benefits such as cashback, fee discounts or loyalty rewards, and it wants issuers to be able to redistribute part of the yield generated by assets held in reserve. It argues that current restrictions put stablecoins at a disadvantage against bank deposits and some other financial products.
Coincentral reported that Circle’s submission focused on reserves, arguing that forcing issuers to hold too much cash in commercial banks increases exposure to bank risk. The company pointed to March 2023, when USDC briefly lost its dollar peg after $3.3 billion of its reserves became stuck at Silicon Valley Bank. Circle wants the bank deposit floor replaced with a liquidity-based rule that looks at how quickly assets can be sold rather than where they are held, and it also asked regulators to drop two technical limits: one capping exposure to a single government at 35% of reserves and one limiting exposure to any single bank to 1.5% of that bank’s total assets. Circle separately asked the EU to keep allowing multi-issuance, warning that blocking it could push users toward offshore stablecoins outside EU oversight.
Also read: EU officials plan MiCA revision to regulate non-European stablecoin issuers
The Hyperliquid Policy Center filed its own response on perpetual futures. It argued that perps should be judged by their economic features rather than the ledger they run on, and that existing MiFID II categories already cover the products without new legislation. It also asked the EU not to apply contracts-for-difference rules to perps, saying the two work differently because perps trade on open order books rather than against a single counterparty.
Why it matters
The two filings show how broad the MiCA review has become. One strand concerns whether euro-denominated stablecoins, which remain small next to dollar-pegged assets, can compete if issuers cannot share reserve income with holders. The other concerns where perpetual futures sit in EU law, a question that affects trading venues rather than payments. Cointribune reported that MiCA has strongly boosted activity in Circle’s EURC this year, and that the US stablecoin framework has evolved quickly, adding pressure on Brussels. Central banks, meanwhile, worry that remunerated digital assets could draw deposits out of the banking system and create liquidity risks.
What to watch
The Commission has not announced any definitive changes or set a timeline for next steps. Its consultation must now feed the report expected under articles 140 and 142 of MiCA, which could lead to a legislative proposal to amend or supplement the regulation. Other submissions are already on the record: Coincentral reported that Deutsche Börse Group proposed a new category for stablecoins used in settlement systems, and that Chamber of Progress backed keeping multi-issuance and allowing interest payments on e-money tokens.
Nothing here is financial advice, and crypto markets are volatile and uncertain.
Reported by cointribune.com.
Sources: Cointribune, Coincentral