EU Readies MiCA Rewrite as Stablecoin Rules Hit Cross-Border Gaps

The issues gained urgency after the United States adopted its own stablecoin legislation. Dollar-denominated tokens still dominate global volumes. The European Central Bank has flagged potential financial-stability risks from cross-border multi-issuance structures. At the same time, activity in tokenised deposits and other distributed-ledger payment instruments has expanded – areas that fall partly or wholly outside MiCA's original scope, diplomats said.

In response, the European Commission opened public and targeted consultations in May 2026. Stakeholders were asked whether the existing rules remain fit for purpose, whether an equivalence regime for third-country stablecoin frameworks should be introduced, how multi-issuer models should be treated, and whether the regulation's scope should widen to cover decentralised finance, staking, lending, and tokenised payments. The deadline for responses was extended to the end of September 2026.

Under MiCA's own terms, the Commission must deliver a review report by mid-2027. That report may come with legislative proposals. Diplomats familiar with the discussions describe a reopening of the file as effectively inevitable, driven by internal institutional positions and the need to keep pace with regulatory changes abroad.

Any amendments would still need to pass through the ordinary legislative procedure, meaning new rules are unlikely before 2028. The review gives the EU a chance to refine its approach: keeping consumer and financial-stability safeguards while improving interoperability with global markets and keeping the framework competitive, officials said.