The European Securities and Markets Authority has urged national authorities in the European Union (EU) to ensure that exchanges no longer make non-compliant stablecoins available for trading over the next two months.
The regulator has asked the 27 EU member states to ensure that crypto asset service providers (CASPs) comply with its stablecoin rules “no later than the end of the first quarter of 2025”, it said ESMA in a press release on Friday.
“In practice, this means that PSAPs operating a crypto-asset trading platform should stop manufacturing all crypto-assets that would qualify as ART and EMT but for which the issuer is not authorized in the EU (“Non-MiCA Compliant ARTs and EMTs) Available for Trading,” ESMA said. ARTs are asset-referenced tokens and EMTs are electronic money tokens.
The move would affect stablecoins that do not comply with EU laws, such as Tether’s USDT if offered to EU customers.. Large emitters have already taken steps to try to comply with MiCA. Tether announced in November the discontinuation of its euro stablecoin, EURT. The company failed to obtain an e-money license to operate in the EU. Circle obtained an e-money license in July.
According to the ESMA statement, exchanges like Gemini and Coinbase, which are registered in the EU, should delist unauthorized stablecoins. Coinbase previously announced that it would delist these tokens by last December.
“Given our commitment to compliance, we have limited the provision of services to Retail, Exchange and Prime Vault customers of Coinbase Europe Limited, Coinbase Germany GmbH and Coinbase Custody International Limited in relation to stablecoins that do not meet the requirements from December 13, 2024,” a Coinbase spokesperson told CoinDesk on Tuesday.
The exchange “will evaluate the reactivation of services for stablecoins that will be MiCA compliant at a later date,” the spokesperson said.
CoinDesk has contacted Gemini for comment.
Read more: Restrictive EU Stablecoin Rules To Come Into Force Soon, And Issuers Are Running Out Of Time
