EBA Names USDC the EU's First 'Significant' E-Money Token

The European Banking Authority has classified USDC as a significant e-money token under MiCA, the first token of its kind in the European Union to carry that label. The decision was published in an EBA press release dated 14 October 2026. USDC is issued in the EU by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS.

Here is what changes if you hold it. From 12 November 2026, the reserve sitting behind USDC stops being supervised by France and moves to an EU-level regulator. The clause in the EBA's release is worth quoting rather than summarising:

direct supervisory responsibilities in the areas of own funds, reserve of assets, liquidity requirements, and recovery and redemption plans will be transferred from the Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR) to the EBA

So the assets backing the token, the money Circle is required to hold against it, and the plan for paying holders back if the issuer fails all shift to the EBA. France does not lose the file entirely, it loses the part that touches the money.

USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalisation, at about $73 billion against Tether's USDt at $184 billion. Those figures come from news pages reporting this story rather than from a live data page, and stablecoin supply moves.

Two Regulators, Split by Duty

The ACPR keeps the corporate side. The EBA release says it "will continue to be responsible for supervision of areas such as governance, qualifying holdings, fit and proper assessment, outsourcing and conflicts of interest."

That split is not unique to this decision. Under MiCA article 117, issuers of significant e-money tokens sit under the dual supervision of the EBA and the relevant national competent authority. The EBA and the ACPR said they will work closely together on a smooth transition and effective supervisory cooperation.

Why USDC Cleared the Significance Test

The EBA classifies asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens as significant under MiCA Articles 43 and 56, and reassesses those classifications every year. The rulebook wording is narrow: the EBA "shall classify e-money tokens as significant e-money tokens where at least three of the criteria set out in Article 43(1) are met," according to the ESMA text of Article 56.

The same article sets the timetable. Before a final decision, the EBA notifies a draft to the issuer, the home regulator, the European Central Bank and, where relevant, the member state's central bank, which have 20 working days to comment. The EBA then has 60 working days from that notification to decide. Once a classification is notified, supervisory duties transfer within 20 working days, which lines up with the 12 November date in the release.

USDC is not alone in being notified under the framework: 45 e-money tokens in the EU have been notified under MiCA, and USDC is the first classified as significant.

What the EBA release does not contain is the list of thresholds behind the label. Article 43's criteria were not read for this article, and neither was the text of Article 58, which sets additional obligations for issuers of significant e-money tokens. The indicators the assessment rests on come from Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1506, which the EBA release cites by title. So the specific tests USDC met are not set out here.

The US Side of the Reserve

The dollar in USDC is not issued from one place. The token is issued in the European Union by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS and in the United States by Circle Internet Financial, LLC, per the EBA release.

The EBA has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the New York State Department of Financial Services, which the release says will "facilitate the cooperation and exchanges of information between the two authorities" on cross-border stablecoin activity. That agreement is how an EU supervisor and a US state regulator plan to compare notes on a token whose reserves and holders sit on both sides of the Atlantic.

The classification is not permanent. The EBA reassesses significant tokens every year, and if a token stops meeting the criteria, supervision can be handed back to the home authority within 20 working days. For now USDC has an EU-level supervisor on its reserves for the first time, and the next reassessment decides whether it keeps one.