The European System of Central Banks wants Brussels to replace MiCA's minimum bank-deposit requirement for stablecoin reserves with liquidity buckets, widen the ban on stablecoin remuneration to cover lending, staking and loyalty rewards, and move direct supervision of large crypto firms to the EU securities regulator. The ESCB, which groups the ECB with the euro area's national central banks, published its response to the European Commission's targeted consultation on the review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation on 22 September. The consultation closes on 30 September.
On reserves, MiCA currently requires that at least 30 percent of reserve assets, and 60 percent for significant electronic money tokens and asset-referenced tokens, be held as deposits at credit institutions, with the remainder invested in secure, low-risk assets that qualify as highly liquid instruments. The ESCB takes the view that those minimum deposit requirements "should be removed and replaced by MiCA requirements specifying minimum percentages of assets maturing within one and five working days (liquidity buckets)". Calibration could use, as a minimum starting point to be further analysed, the percentages of reserve assets maturing within one and five working days set out in the European Banking Authority's draft regulatory technical standards, which the central banks say should be implemented swiftly.
On remuneration, the response keeps the existing prohibition and defends it: "The payment of stablecoin remuneration should continue to be prohibited." It adds that the ban should not be limited to services governed by MiCA, but should also apply to unregulated services such as crypto borrowing, lending and staking, which the ECB says "replicate the economic effect of interest payments through ancillary or unregulated services". Indirect rewards, such as certain benefits offered under loyalty programmes or liquidity-mining incentives embedded in DeFi arrangements, should be covered too, with the ESCB calling a strengthened prohibition on direct and indirect remuneration "a clear legislative priority". On the same logic, the central banks state that "staking, lending and borrowing of crypto-assets should be regulated at Union level", with a substance-based split between agency services, investment services and banking-type activities.
The European push contrasts with the US approach: the 2025 GENIUS Act barred dollar stablecoin issuers from paying interest but left exchanges free to offer rewards, and whether to close that gap became one of the contested issues in the CLARITY Act, which fell ten votes short in the Senate on 15 September.
The ESCB also asks for stronger tools against tokens pegged to foreign currencies, saying it would be useful if competent authorities could impose on issuers of electronic money tokens denominated in third-country currencies "a prohibition to issue new tokens, as well as an obligation to redeem existing tokens" where the ECB or the relevant national central bank concludes that the token threatens monetary policy transmission, the smooth operation of payment systems or monetary sovereignty, and financial stability as well. On supervision, the ECB welcomed the Commission's market integration and supervision package, which would transfer authorisation, monitoring and enforcement powers for all crypto-asset service providers to the European Securities and Markets Authority, and repeated its proposals for risk-sensitive own funds requirements, technical clarifications on the statutory audit requirement and enhanced prudential requirements for significant CASPs, including an EU intermediate parent undertaking and a consolidated prudential approach. It also wants a tailored crisis-management regime for non-bank issuers of significant tokens, with closer coordination between MiCA and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, which today rests only on EBA guidelines.
Why it matters is twofold. For payments, the ESCB judges the incremental benefit of stablecoins for domestic retail use "more limited", given SEPA instant credit transfers and the forthcoming digital euro. For banks, it notes that reserves held as deposits tend to be less stable and more sensitive to market conditions, while reserves invested in short-term government securities may initially reduce the banking sector's deposit base; large-scale stablecoin adoption could leave banks with a less stable and more costly funding structure, with implications for their ability to supply credit, and reserve assets concentrated in a few sovereign issuers could amplify a redemption-driven sell-off in sovereign debt markets.
What the response does not settle is timing and outcome. The recommendations are not binding: the Commission will weigh them against other responses before deciding whether to reopen the law, and EU diplomats expect a revision in 2027 that would need approval from the European Parliament and member states. The ECB has no formal role in licensing crypto firms. It declined to comment on the account published by Euronews, citing the Wall Street Journal, that President Christine Lagarde urged Greece to delay Binance's MiCA authorisation; Binance withdrew that application on 24 June and said it would not comment on speculation. MiCA has applied since December 2024, and the final transitional deadline for existing operators expired on 1 July.
Sources
- European Central Bank / ESCB, response to the targeted consultation on the review of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR): ecb.europa.eu
- Euronews, "ECB calls for tougher EU crypto rules and wider ban on stablecoin interest": euronews.com
