Circle Pushes a MiCA Fix That Could Bring Tether Back to Europe

Tether (USDT) walked away from Europe rather than follow its stablecoin rules. Now a top Circle executive has an idea that could bring it back.

The idea is called equivalence. It lets the EU accept the home rules a company already follows, with no separate EU coin needed.

Why Most Stablecoins Skip Europe

MiCA is the EU's rulebook for crypto. Its stablecoin rules reached their final deadline on July 1.

The rulebook has one big gap. It gives the EU no way to accept a foreign issuer's home rules.

So any firm that wants EU users must first set up a licensed EU company. Patrick Hansen, Circle's head of EU policy, calls that the hard way in.

By his estimate, about 99% of stablecoins are made outside the EU. That leaves the rules covering just a sliver of the market.

"Equivalence is emerging as a compelling alternative to the multi-issuance model, currently the only possible regulatory pathway for these global stablecoins under MiCA," Hansen stated.

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