Tether, a leading stablecoin operator, has voiced its concerns about the swift actions by European cryptocurrency exchanges to delist its USDt stablecoin in response to the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework implemented by the European Union. Crypto.com, a renowned crypto exchange, announced on January 29 that it would begin the delisting process for Tether’s USDt and nine other tokens on January 31 to meet MiCA’s regulatory standards.
Tether expressed dissatisfaction with the hurried developments in the European market, driven by the enforcement of the MiCA framework. “The rushed actions prompted by statements that do little to clarify the basis for such moves are disappointing,” a Tether spokesperson told Cointelegraph.
According to Tether, these MiCA-induced changes pose significant risks to EU consumers and the local crypto market. The company fears that such actions will expose EU consumers to increased risk as many tokens, not just USDt, are affected by these changes.
Tether warns that these regulatory changes could lead to a “disorderly” market at a time when MiCA is still in the early stages of implementation. Notably, Crypto.com’s MiCA-enforced delisting process will affect a total of 10 tokens, including Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Dai (DAI) stablecoin, and others.
Coinbase, another exchange that delisted USDT in December 2024, said it would delist six tokens to comply with MiCA. However, it delisted WBTC on the entire Coinbase platform for other reasons on December 19, 2024. A Coinbase spokesperson explained, “To meet regulatory requirements, we regularly review the assets we make available to customers on our platform and will consider re-enabling services for stablecoins that achieve MiCA compliance at a later date.”
In addition to potential consumer risks triggered by MiCA, Tether stressed that MiCA has negative implications for stablecoins licensed in the EU. The spokesperson indicated that the USD stablecoin market is almost negligible in Europe, unlike emerging markets where USDT is extremely popular.
Despite its concerns, Tether recognized the importance of established regulatory frameworks such as MiCA for sector growth and reaffirmed its commitment to compliance while introducing innovative technologies like Hadron and supporting transformative projects like Quantor, which are designed to be MiCA compliant.
This statement from Tether follows the European Securities and Markets Authority’s directive to European crypto asset service providers (CASPs) to start restricting non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins by the end of January 2025. The regulator also asked CASPs to completely restrict non-compliant stablecoins by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
