Circle executives: Most stablecoin issuers in the EU are unable to custody their own tokens for clients

ChianCatcher news, Circle's Senior Director of Strategy and Policy for the EU, Patrick Hansen, pointed out in a tweet that among the approximately 23 authorized electronic money token (EMT) issuers in the EU, only 9 have been granted permission to provide crypto asset services (CASP). This means that only these 9 can offer custody and transfer services for the stablecoins they issue, while the remaining 14 can only mint or burn tokens directly to customer wallets and cannot hold or send stablecoins on behalf of customers. This greatly limits the range of services that issuers can provide.

Hansen stated that Circle has obtained the necessary CASP approval through the MiCA Article 60 notification procedure to provide custody or payment services related to USDC and EURC for institutional clients. He expressed surprise that more EMT issuers have not taken this step. The 9 that can currently offer some crypto asset services include Circle, Société Générale - Forge, CACEIS Bank, Banking Circle, Bridge, Fiat Republic, Newrails, Blue EMI, and Stable Mint.