Stablecoin Issuers Urged to Anticipate MiCA Rules by EU Banking Agency

Stablecoin issuers should start preparing for new European Union rules, even though they only take effect in June of next year, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said Wednesday.

The bloc’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation sets governance and reserve requirements for cryptocurrencies tied to the value of other assets with related provisions set to take effect six months ahead of other rules on licensing for crypto wallet providers and exchanges.

The EBA wants to “encourage timely preparatory actions” ahead of that start date, to protect consumers and reduce the cliff-edge for companies on June 30, the regulator said.

Issuers of e-money tokens tied to fiat currency and of asset-reference tokens linked to other products such as gold should start adhering to MiCA’s “high standards” of disclosure to potential users sooner rather than later, non-binding guidelines published by the Paris-based agency said, offering a template form for companies to voluntarily notify intentions to national regulators.

The news comes on the same day that ESMA, the EBA’s counterpart for securities markets, issued its first batch of draft MiCA regulations detailing what crypto providers seeking a license to operate across the bloc will need to give to the authorities.