Circle’s EU Policy Director: “The MiCA stablecoin regulation bill has significant gaps, and an overseas token recognition mechanism needs to be introduced.”

Circle’s Senior Director of EU Strategy and Policy Patrick Hansen (@paddi_hansen) published an article noting that since the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation took effect, roughly 35 electronic money tokens (EMTs) from 21 institutions have secured compliance certifications. Banks and e-money institutions are entering the space, with strong local issuance momentum. However, among the world’s top 50 stablecoins, only three—USDC, USDG, and EURC—currently meet MiCA requirements, while the rest operate outside the regulatory framework, leaving EU users facing a dual dilemma: either insufficient protection or forced access restrictions. Hansen argues that for MiCA to truly serve as a global regulatory benchmark, two goals must be achieved in parallel: first, drive local EMTs to go global via a competitive regulatory regime; second, establish a recognition mechanism for overseas compliant stablecoins to attract global issuers to join the MiCA framework, rather than making local issuance the sole entry path.