The European Banking Authority has classified USDC, issued in the EU by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS, as a significant e-money token under MiCA. Of the 45 such tokens notified in the EU, it is the first to receive this designation. From 12 November 2026 the EBA takes over direct supervision of own funds, reserves, liquidity and recovery and redemption plans, while France's ACPR keeps oversight of governance and fit-and-proper matters. The EBA has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York Department of Financial Services.

What it means: The designation shows MiCA moving from theory to practice for large stablecoins. Dual supervision means the core elements of a token's stability, namely reserves, liquidity and redemption at par, move to the European level. For EU users this strengthens confidence in USDC as a settlement asset, since a European authority now checks it directly. For the issuer, significant tokens carry higher own funds and liquidity requirements and therefore higher compliance costs. For Greek crypto-asset service providers and fintechs the takeaway is practical: choosing a stablecoin for payments or treasury should depend on its regulatory status, not just its market liquidity. ESMA has already told providers not to serve stablecoins lacking MiCA authorisation, so the line between approved and unapproved tokens is becoming decisive. The memorandum with New York also shows that supervising global stablecoins requires cross-border cooperation, which will matter for future euro stablecoins as well. Greek firms holding USDC should review issuer disclosures after November.

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