The world's largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), is set to be delisted in the EU on December 30th, 2024, as it is not compliant under the new MiCa regulation.

Tether's market cap stands at about $139.7 billion, roughly 13% of all Swiss Franc in existence and larger than the entire valuation of Nike or UPS. In Argentina, 80% of all tech contractors are paid in USDT and for institutional investors USDT has always been the go-to-'currency' to swap digital asset into USD safely and quickly. Also, Tether is dwarfing its direct competitor Circle, whose stablecoin USDC is 4x smaller.

Hence, USDT is very large. So why is it being outlawed?

The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation, aims to bring greater transparency and consumer protection to the crypto market. MiCA requires all crypto-asset issuers, including stablecoin providers like Tether, to secure appropriate licenses to operate within the EU.

Tether is considered to be an Electronic Money Tokens (EMTs) and as such in future can only be publicly offered on EU platforms if the issuer is authorized as a credit institution or electronic money institution - and has submitted a crypto-asset whitepaper to the competent authority.

As of today, Tether has chosen to do neither.

This could potentially lead to severely reduced liquidity and increased volatility.

In contrast, Circle's USD Coin (USDC) has already achieved MiCA compliance, by applying for a E-Money License in Paris.

I personally believe that MiCA is good for the EU and a prerequisite for developing web 3 solutions for institutional investors that rely on clear rules. However, USDT becoming outlawed was certainly an unintended consequence.

What's your opinion? Why did Tether chose not to comply with EU regulations and what does this mean for the EU? And could this even support the emergence of Euro stablecoins?

#Fintech #MiCA #Tether #USDT #stablecoins

please tell me when alt season will start