EU central banks urge dropping stablecoin bank deposit rule in MiCA

On September 22, 2026, the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), which includes the European Central Bank and the 27 national central banks of EU countries, recommended changing the EU's MiCA crypto regulation to drop the requirement for stablecoin issuers to hold a minimum proportion of their reserves as bank deposits. Instead, they proposed requiring a minimum percentage of reserves to be held in assets maturing within one to five working days. The ESCB also noted material challenges in enforcing MiCA, as non-compliant crypto companies still have access to EU customers.