The rule in one line.
Under MiCA, a stablecoin can only be offered to the public or admitted to trading in the EU if its issuer is authorised: an e-money token (EMT) authorisation under Title III for a token referencing a single official currency (the category almost every USD- or EUR-pegged stablecoin falls into), or an asset-referenced token (ART) authorisation under Title IV for a token referencing a basket. The EMT and ART obligations have applied since 30 June 2024; the 1 July 2026 date is the outer edge of the wider transitional period after which a platform can no longer lean on grandfathering for the services around those tokens. The practical effect is the same for a listing team: by the deadline, every stablecoin on your venue needs an authorised issuer behind it, or it comes off for EU users.
“No e-money token shall be offered to the public or admitted to trading within the Union unless its issuer is authorised as a credit institution or an electronic money institution and has published a compliant crypto-asset white paper.”
“Offered to the public or admitted to trading” is the trigger that matters to a platform — and marketing is how you offer. The moment your venue promotes a non-authorised stablecoin to EU users, the exposure is live, independent of whether anyone trades it.
Compliant vs excluded — the top names.
The table below reflects issuers’ public statements and regulator notices as of June 2026. It is a starting map, not a clearance: authorisation status changes, applies per legal entity, and must be confirmed against your national competent authority’s register before you rely on it for a listing decision.
| Stablecoin | Basis | EU status | What it means for listing & comms |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDC (Circle, USD) | EMT — single-fiat | Compliant | Issued by a MiCA-authorised e-money institution. Listable and marketable to EU users; standard Article 88 “clear, fair, not misleading” bar still applies to how you describe it. |
| EURC (Circle, EUR) | EMT — single-fiat | Compliant | The euro-denominated counterpart under the same authorisation. The natural compliant euro-settlement option for EU venues. |
| USDT (Tether, USD) | EMT category | Excluded | The issuer has publicly stated it is not pursuing MiCA authorisation in its current form, so USDT sits outside EU-regulated venues. Offering or marketing it to EU users after the deadline is the central exposure this page exists for. |
| Other major stablecoins | EMT / ART | Verify per issuer | Several other issuers have sought or obtained EMT authorisation; others have not. Do not assume — check each token’s issuer entity against the live register before listing or promoting it. |
Why USDC and EURC clear and USDT does not is not a quality judgement on the token — it is purely a function of whether the issuer holds the authorisation MiCA requires. Your marketing must reflect that distinction without editorialising about either token’s safety or value.
How to announce a forced delisting — the marketing part.
If you carry a non-authorised stablecoin today, you will be writing a delisting or conversion notice this week. That notice is a marketing communication, and MiCA Article 88 governs it just as much as any acquisition ad. The legal mechanics of the delisting are an operations and counsel job; the wording is where growth and comms teams create — or avoid — a misleading-promotion problem.
“USDT is being removed for safety reasons — switch now to [Stablecoin X] and earn rewards on your balance.”
Three problems: it implies the delisted token is unsafe (a claim about the token, not the rule), it implies the replacement is endorsed, and it bolts a yield/acquisition promise onto a client-protection notice. Citation: MiCA Art. 88 (clear, fair, not misleading); see also the risk-warning and misleading-marketing rules.
“From [date], USDT will no longer be available to EU users on [platform] because its issuer is not authorised under MiCA. You can convert or withdraw your USDT balance until [date]; here is how. This notice is operational information, not advice on which stablecoin to hold.” State the token, the dates, and the action. No safety claim about the delisted token, no endorsement of a replacement, no price/yield/stability promise.
The delisting-notice checklist.
Which token, the effective date, and exactly what the user must do (convert, withdraw, close positions) and by when.
“Issuer not authorised under MiCA” is a fact. “Unsafe,” “de-pegging risk,” or “failing” are claims about the token you should not make.
You may tell users which compliant stablecoins remain available; do not imply any of them is guaranteed, risk-free, or recommended.
Keep the notice free of “earn,” “guaranteed 1:1,” or returns language — on either the old token or the new one.
Do not cross-sell unrelated products off the back of the delisting. The communication’s job is an orderly transition, not acquisition.
The country-status gap.
MiCA is one regulation, but it does not land identically everywhere on day one. National competent authorities run the registers, set the shorter transitional windows, and in some cases have not yet completed their implementing legislation — Poland, a significant pre-MiCA licensing hub, is the prominent example of a member state whose national framework was still not finalised heading into the deadline. France’s AMF has been explicit that operating without the required authorisation can carry criminal exposure, not just administrative consequences. The practical takeaway for a platform serving multiple member states: your stablecoin offering, and the comms around any delisting, has to be planned against the strictest and earliest applicable national position, not a generic EU-wide reading.
The transitional period ends on 1 July 2026 and may not be extended by any member state; firms relying on grandfathering must be authorised or have ceased the relevant activity by that date.
Related rules.
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The deadline hub: what flips on the day, who is affected, and why marketing becomes exposure rather than growth.
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The firm-level decision tree if you are heading into the deadline without a CASP authorisation, plus the reverse-solicitation trap.
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The “clear, fair, and not misleading” bar every delisting notice and stablecoin description must clear.
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MiCA, FCA, GDPR — the marketing rules, quoted and explained.
This page is an operator-grade heuristic for listing, growth, and communications teams — it is information, not legal advice, and not a determination of any token’s authorisation status or any firm’s position. Stablecoin authorisation status is set by issuers’ filings and the EU/national registers and can change; confirm each token against your national competent authority before acting. The MiCA passages are plain-English renderings; for the binding text, consult the Regulation, ESMA’s guidance, and qualified counsel in your client member states.