EU Plans to Reopen MiCA to Rein In Foreign Stablecoin Issuers

The European Union wants to reopen its crypto rulebook. Brussels is preparing to revise the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, the bloc's landmark framework, so it covers foreign stablecoin issuers and newer technology like tokenization, according to Euronews. A revision is expected in 2027. For now the European Commission is consulting stakeholders through September 30 as it weighs whether to reopen the file, though lawmakers reportedly see a review as all but inevitable.

The supervision gap

The problem Brussels wants to fix is jurisdictional. MiCA does not specifically regulate non-EU companies that issue crypto assets while operating inside the European market. That structure is hard to supervise, and it gets messier when a single stablecoin can have several issuers. One diplomat told Euronews the move to widen MiCA's reach is partly inspired by regulatory developments elsewhere.

Washington sets the pace

That elsewhere is mostly the United States. President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind dollar-backed stablecoins, enacting the GENIUS Act in 2025. The dollar already dominates the market. Roughly 95% of the world's stablecoins are pegged to it, and the flows keep growing. Stablecoin transaction volumes jumped 72% in 2025 to about $33 trillion, according to Artemis Analytics.

Those numbers explain the urgency. A market clearing tens of trillions of dollars a year, almost entirely in a currency the EU does not control, is not something Brussels can comfortably supervise from the sidelines. MiCA was written before that surge, and the revision is an attempt to catch up.

Already reshaping the market

The review is expected to reach past stablecoins. The commission also wants to consider whether MiCA should cover tokenized means of payment and bank deposits, a category expected to grow quickly in the coming years. That would pull traditional bank money, in tokenized form, into the same framework as crypto.

MiCA is already changing behavior. Since taking full effect, it has pushed Tether's USDT off several EU exchanges over compliance and prompted global platforms such as Binance to scale back in the region. The open question is how far the rulebook can stretch beyond Europe's borders. Stakeholders have until September 30 to make their case.