Circle has become the first company in the world to obtain a MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) license, which allows it to legally operate in the European Union (EU) and guarantees its stablecoin, USDC, is available on all cryptocurrency exchanges in the community. The important announcement was made today by the Binance exchange.
Stablecoin, what is it?
Stablecoins, such as USDC, are cryptocurrencies that are designed to have a stable value and are tied to the value of traditional assets, such as the U.S. dollar. This makes them less susceptible to price fluctuations than other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, and can be used for everyday transactions and as a hedge against market volatility.
According to the MiCA regulation, which aims to regulate the cryptocurrency market in the EU, stablecoin-related activities can only be conducted by electronic money institutions (EMIs) and credit institutions, i.e. banks. This means that only EMIs and banks can now issue and create stablecoins in the EU. This means that the issuer of “stablecoins” must have a license to be able to offer their products.
Circle with license
And that brings us to Circle, whose French-based subsidiary has just received an EMI license from the French banking regulator, Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR). This allows Circle to now issue USDC and Euro Coin (EURC) tokens in compliance with MiCA’s stringent stablecoin regulatory requirements.
Shortly after this decision, Binance confirmed its support for the USDC stablecoin. Binance CEO Richard Teng emphasized that USDC is now fully regulated in the EU and meets all MiCA requirements, which is an important step for the development of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the region.
USDC’s MiCA compliance boosts trust in the stablecoin and opens the door to its wider adoption in Europe
– Richard Teng said in his post on platform X.
For Binance users in the EU, support for USDC primarily means continued access to the wide range of products and services offered by the exchange using this stablecoin. Users will continue to be able to buy, sell, exchange and use USDC as collateral in various Binance products, such as Convert, Earn, Binance Loans, Margin and P2P Trading. Additionally, most of the commissions, rebates and rewards on the platform will be paid in USDC, the company commented in its statement.
The full implementation of MiCA is staggered, but stablecoin regulations have been in force since July this year, meaning that only issuers meeting MiCA requirements can currently operate on the European cryptocurrency market.
