Overview
- The European Banking Authority classified USDC as a “significant” e‑money token on October 14, 2026, and will assume direct supervision of key prudential safeguards from November 12, 2026.
- From November 12 the EBA will oversee Circle’s own funds, reserve assets, liquidity requirements and recovery and redemption plans while France’s ACPR keeps governance, fit‑and‑proper checks and outsourcing oversight.
- The EBA signed a memorandum of understanding with New York’s Department of Financial Services to share information and coordinate cross‑border supervision for USDC, which is issued by separate Circle entities in the EU and the United States.
- Circle has asked EU policymakers to rethink MiCA’s rules that force a fixed share of reserves into commercial bank deposits, citing the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank episode when some reserves were temporarily inaccessible and arguing for liquidity‑based tests instead.
- USDC’s large scale — roughly $73 billion in circulation at mid‑year — means the EBA’s move could change how exchanges, payment providers and users access dollar redemptions and could prompt closer EU‑US supervisory coordination and annual reassessments of significance.