(Reuters) – Coinbase will delist some stablecoins from the European Economic Area list by the end of the year, the cryptocurrency exchange said on Friday, as the industry prepares for tighter regulation in the region.
The European Union’s landmark crypto regulatory framework, known as the Markets in Crypto-Asset (MiCA) Regulation, introduced in early 2023, is expected to be fully implemented by December.
This requires issuers of stablecoins – cryptographic tokens whose monetary value is tied to a stable asset to protect against wild volatility – to meet strict standards of transparency, liquidity and consumer protection.
“Given our commitment to compliance, we intend to restrict the provision of services to EEA users in relation to stablecoins that do not meet MiCA requirements by December 30, 2024 ” the leading US crypto exchange said in an emailed statement.
Coinbase plans to offer affected EEA customers options in November to switch to approved issuers such as fintech company Circle’s USDC and EURC, whose value is pegged to the dollar respectively American and the euro.
Stablecoins have grown in popularity in recent years, thanks to their adoption by financial heavyweights such as PayPal and the rapid integration into traditional finance of the once-nascent digital assets sector.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
