ECB and EU Central Banks Push to Scrap MiCA’s Stablecoin Deposit Rule

The European Central Bank and the European Union’s national central banks oppose the stablecoin bank deposit rule¹. They have suggested dropping the stablecoin deposits requirement². Europe’s central banks want Brussels to delete a MiCA rule on stablecoin reserves that forces large issuers to keep 60 percent of that money in commercial bank deposits⁶. The ECB and EU central banks want MiCA’s 30 percent and 60 percent deposit floors removed⁵.

The European System of Central Banks, composed of the ECB and the central banks of 27 countries, argues that these requirements could leave banks exposed³.

Why it matters to investors

The rule has already cost Europe an issuer. Tether dropped its application for a European Union licence because of the requirement that major stablecoin issuers hold at least 60 percent of their reserves in commercial bank deposits⁸. The ECB’s push echoes a reserve-risk warning Tether raised in 2024⁵.

The central banks are not asking for a looser regime overall. The ECB and the ESCB want stricter MiCA enforcement, new liquidity rules for stablecoin reserves, and centralised supervision of crypto firms operating in the bloc⁷. They also want crypto platforms prevented from using lending and staking to pay yield, extending the existing stablecoin yield ban⁴.

What to watch

Two things are moving in opposite directions. One is the reserve rule, which the central banks want removed because concentrating stablecoin money in bank deposits transmits issuer stress into banks^1,3. The other is the perimeter of supervision, which the ECB wants widened and centralised⁷.

For anyone holding or issuing euro-facing stablecoins, the questions are whether Brussels accepts deletion of the deposit floors^5,6, whether the yield ban is extended to lending and staking⁴, and whether a changed rule brings issuers such as Tether back inside the EU perimeter⁸. The proposal is a recommendation to lawmakers, not a change in force, so the timetable in Brussels is the binding constraint^1,2.

The alignment here is unusual enough to be worth naming. A rule written to make stablecoins safer by parking their reserves in banks is now opposed by the banks’ own supervisors, on the grounds that it concentrates the exposure in the wrong place^1,3. That puts the ECB in the same position as the largest issuer it does not regulate, which declined an EU licence over the identical requirement^5,8. The central banks are pairing the concession with a tightening elsewhere, asking for centralised supervision, new liquidity rules on reserves and a wider ban on paying yield^4,7. Whether lawmakers take the package whole or in parts will decide how much of the bloc’s stablecoin activity stays offshore^2,6.