MiCA Trap Leaves 14 European Stablecoin Issuers Unable to Custody Own Tokens

To get that license, companies must notify regulators under Article 60 of MiCA – a process that can take up to a year in large jurisdictions like France or Luxembourg, Hansen said.

Rather than wait, some issuers have started outsourcing to third-party regulated platforms, creating a period of forced B2B alliances.

Schuman Financial, the French issuer of the EURØP stablecoin, holds EMT status but lacks CASP authorization. The project integrated its asset into the XRP Ledger infrastructure and now relies on Ripple's European MiCA licenses – both CASP and EMI – to provide legal custody and transfers across 30 European countries.

Market participants expect the imbalance to persist. Completing the Article 60 notification process in major European jurisdictions takes months to a year, according to industry sources.

That timeline gives Circle, issuer of USDC and EURC, and Société Générale-Forge a durable edge in the competition for institutional capital inside the European Economic Area, until the euro stablecoin sector moves beyond this period of forced alliances and returns to direct product competition.

Circle's Hansen said the regulatory gap is likely to remain a structural feature of the market for at least 12 to 18 months.