European Central Bank: Opposes mandating stablecoin reserves to be held as bank deposits

According to a Reuters report, the European Central Bank and the central banks of EU member states expressed opposition to the requirement that major stablecoin issuers hold at least 60% of their reserve assets in the form of bank deposits during the consultation on the regulatory framework for crypto assets, MiCA. The reason is that this could expose banks to fluctuations in the stablecoin market and undermine the stability of deposits.

The central bank system suggested changing the regulation to require that a certain proportion of reserve assets must be short-term assets maturing within 1 to 5 working days. At the same time, the central bank pointed out that despite MiCA being in effect, non-compliant crypto companies can still reach EU customers, and regulatory enforcement faces "significant challenges," posing risks to investor protection.