EU banking regulator names USDC the first significant e-money token, taking direct oversight from 12 November

The European Banking Authority said on 14 October that it has classified USDC as a significant e-money token under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation. It is the first of the 45 e-money tokens notified under MiCA to cross the significance threshold. In the EU, USDC is issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS, which until now has been supervised by France's prudential authority, the ACPR. From 12 November 2026, the EBA will take over direct supervision of the issuer's own funds, reserve of assets, liquidity requirements, and recovery and redemption plans. The ACPR will keep responsibility for governance, qualifying holdings, fit-and-proper checks, outsourcing and conflicts of interest. The EBA will reassess the classification each year, and it has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the New York State Department of Financial Services to share information on cross-border stablecoin activity. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin, with close to $73 billion in circulation according to The Block. It is also one of the tokens commonly offered in the stablecoin checkout and settlement products that payment providers have been launching for merchants this year. For online merchants in Europe, the decision does not change how USDC payments work at checkout. It does mean the reserves behind the token they accept or settle in will be watched by an EU-level supervisor, under stricter rules for significant tokens. That may make treasury and compliance teams more comfortable holding USDC balances, while keeping questions over redemption and fees with the payment provider in the middle.