The company has obtained an electronic money institution license from the French banking regulator to issue its cryptocurrencies.
The suspense is over for Circle. The company that issues the USDC and EURC stablecoins announced in a press release on Monday, July 1, that it had become the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with the European Union’s regulatory framework on markets in crypto assets (MiCA). This regulation came into force on June 30.
Circle has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the French banking regulator, the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). With this license, its two stablecoins, USDC, a stablecoin designed to be pegged to the US dollar, and EURC, a stablecoin designed to be pegged to the euro, are now issued in the European Union. According to Coinmarketcap, USDC is the sixth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization with €30 billion. EURC comes in at 618th with a market capitalization of €35 million.
A stablecoin (or stable cryptocurrency) is a crypto-asset (or digital asset) that is pegged to a fiat currency such as the euro or the dollar. A stablecoin can also be backed by other assets (such as gold). This is called the underlying of the stablecoin. When the price of the underlying varies up or down, the value of the stablecoin must align with it. The promise is to permanently maintain parity, for example here 1 USDC = 1 dollar and 1 EURC = 1 euro.
“An important step”
“Since our inception, Circle has sought to build a sustainable, compliant and well-regulated infrastructure for stablecoins, and our membership in MiCA, which represents one of the most comprehensive cryptocurrency regulatory regimes in the world, is an important step in bringing digital currency to scale and mainstream acceptance,” Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, said in the release.
The MiCA law currently only concerns stablecoin issuers. For crypto exchange platforms, the MiCA regulation will come into force on December 30, 2024, with an 18-month transition period for crypto-asset service providers (PSAN) who have already obtained a “simple” or “enhanced” registration or an “optional approval”, as detailed on the AMF website here.
“These players will be able, during this eighteen-month period, to continue to offer their services to the French public only. As of July 1, 2026, they will have to have obtained MiCA approval to continue to offer their services, including to the French public,” the AMF further specifies.
Source: https://www.bfmtv.com/crypto/regulation/circle-devient-le-premier-emetteur-de-stablecoin-a-se-conformer-au-reglement-europeen-mi-ca_AV-202407020527.html
