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

Europe's central banks want the requirement that large issuers hold most reserves in commercial bank deposits deleted from the bloc's crypto rulebook.

Assembled by Claude from 8 sources at 8 outlets · Tuesday, September 22, 2026, Evening edition, 5:21 PM EDT · no human byline

Disclosure. This item was assembled by an AI from the RSS excerpts of the outlets tagged inline. No human wrote or checked it before publication. Feed selection and categories are editorial choices by Teresa Lo. Nothing here is investment advice.

What happened

The European Central Bank and the European Union's national central banks oppose the stablecoin bank deposit rule reuters.com. They have suggested dropping the stablecoin deposits requirement channelnewsasia.com. 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 deposits finance.yahoo.com. The ECB and EU central banks want MiCA's 30 percent and 60 percent deposit floors removed crypto.news.

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

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 deposits en.bloomingbit.io. The ECB's push echoes a reserve-risk warning Tether raised in 2024 crypto.news.

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 bloc cryptobriefing.com. They also want crypto platforms prevented from using lending and staking to pay yield, extending the existing stablecoin yield ban coindesk.com.

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 pymnts.comreuters.com. The other is the perimeter of supervision, which the ECB wants widened and centralised cryptobriefing.com.

For anyone holding or issuing euro-facing stablecoins, the questions are whether Brussels accepts deletion of the deposit floors crypto.newsfinance.yahoo.com, whether the yield ban is extended to lending and staking coindesk.com, and whether a changed rule brings issuers such as Tether back inside the EU perimeter en.bloomingbit.io. The proposal is a recommendation to lawmakers, not a change in force, so the timetable in Brussels is the binding constraint channelnewsasia.comreuters.com.

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 pymnts.comreuters.com. 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 en.bloomingbit.iocrypto.news. 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 cryptobriefing.comcoindesk.com. Whether lawmakers take the package whole or in parts will decide how much of the bloc's stablecoin activity stays offshore finance.yahoo.comchannelnewsasia.com.

Sources

  1. reuters.com: ECB, EU central banks oppose stablecoin bank deposit rule - Reuters (2026-09-22)
  2. channelnewsasia.com: ECB, EU central banks suggest dropping stablecoin deposits rule - CNA (2026-09-22)
  3. pymnts.com: EU Central Banks Push to Eliminate Stablecoin Deposit Rule | PYMNTS.com (2026-09-22)
  4. coindesk.com: European central banks push to expand stablecoin yield ban to crypto lending and staking (2026-09-22)
  5. crypto.news: ECB seeks MiCA reserve change flagged by Tether in 2024 - Crypto News (2026-09-22)
  6. finance.yahoo.com: Tether Rejected This MiCA Rule. Now the ECB Wants It Gone - Yahoo Finance (2026-09-22)
  7. cryptobriefing.com: European Central Bank calls for tougher EU crypto rules and stablecoin interest ban (2026-09-22)
  8. en.bloomingbit.io: Tether Dropped EU License Application Over MiCA Rule Requiring 60% of Reserves in ... (2026-09-22)