MiCA vs the GENIUS Act: EU and US Stablecoin Rules Compared

MiCA vs the GENIUS Act at a glance

Topic	MiCA (EU)	GENIUS Act (US)
Legal text	Regulation (EU) 2023/1114	Public Law 119-27 (S. 1582)
Fiat-backed coin is called	E-money token (EMT)	Payment stablecoin
Who may issue	Credit institutions or e-money institutions, with a notified white paper	Permitted issuers: bank subsidiaries, OCC-licensed non-banks, state issuers ≤ $10B
Reserves	≥ 30% in bank deposits; rest in highly liquid, low-risk assets in the same currency	1:1 in cash, deposits, Treasuries ≤ 93 days, overnight repo, government MMFs
Redemption	At any time, at par, no fee	Timely, under a published policy; fees disclosed, 7 days' notice to change
Interest	Banned for issuers and crypto service providers	Banned for issuers
Large issuers	"Significant" EMTs supervised by the EBA	State issuers over $10B move to federal oversight; over $50B publish audited accounts
In force	Since 30 Jun 2024 (stablecoin titles)	18 Jan 2027 (latest)

The two regimes by the numbers (October 2026)

ESMA's interim register listed 50 e-money token white papers from 25 issuers in 14 countries on 7 October 2026. In the US, no issuer is licensed yet: the Federal Register showed proposed GENIUS rules from the OCC, FDIC, NCUA, Federal Reserve, Treasury and FinCEN, and one procedural interim final rule.

Measure	MiCA	GENIUS Act
Fiat stablecoin issuers authorised	25 EMT issuers in ESMA's register	None yet; Act not in force
Key thresholds	10M holders; €5B value; 2.5M transactions and €500M a day (three of seven criteria)	$10B (state cap); $50B (audited accounts)
Non-domestic currency coins	Means-of-exchange cap: 1M transactions and €200M a day per currency area	Foreign issuers need a Treasury comparability finding and OCC registration

Among the registered issuers are Circle's French entity (USDC and EURC), Société Générale-Forge, Paxos's Finnish subsidiary and Quantoz. Tether is not in the register. Market figures are DefiLlama's for 9 October 2026; see the stablecoin market in 2026.

How to read this comparison

• You hold stablecoins: look at redemption rights and insolvency treatment; both regimes ring-fence reserves from the issuer's other creditors.
• You run a platform serving EU users: MiCA already limits which EMTs you can offer and bans you from paying interest on them.
• You serve US users: plan for 18 July 2028, when only permitted or recognised foreign stablecoins may be offered.
• You are building on a chain such as Stellar: both laws regulate issuers and service providers, not networks.

Licensing — who may issue

Under MiCA, only a credit institution or an electronic money institution may offer an e-money token to the public or seek its admission to trading in the EU, and it must notify a white paper. Under GENIUS, only a "permitted payment stablecoin issuer" may issue a payment stablecoin in the US.

MiCA Article 48 also deems e-money tokens to be electronic money, so the E-Money Directive's framework applies as modified by MiCA's Title IV. Issuers must tell their regulator at least 40 working days before an offer. The GENIUS Act offers three routes: a subsidiary of an insured bank or credit union approved by its regulator, a non-bank "federal qualified" issuer supervised by the OCC, or a state-qualified issuer under a regime certified as substantially similar, available only while its issuance stays at or below $10 billion. A regulator must decide on a complete application within 120 days.

Foreign issuers are where the regimes diverge most. MiCA has no comparability route: to offer an EMT in the EU you must be authorised in the EU. GENIUS lets a foreign issuer's coin be offered in the US if the Treasury finds its home regime comparable, the issuer registers with the OCC and it holds reserves in a US financial institution sufficient to meet US customers' liquidity demands.

Reserves — what counts

MiCA's rule for ordinary EMTs is that at least 30% of funds received sit in separate accounts at credit institutions, with the rest in secure, highly liquid, low-risk instruments in the same currency. GENIUS sets an at-least-1:1 reserve limited to an explicit list of cash-like assets.

The GENIUS list in section 4(a)(1)(A) is short: coins and currency or Federal Reserve balances, demand deposits at insured institutions, Treasuries with 93 days or less to maturity, overnight repo and reverse repo backed by such Treasuries, government money market funds investing only in these assets, other similarly liquid federal assets a regulator approves, and tokenised forms of them. Reserves may not be pledged or rehypothecated except in narrow cases.

Neither list allows gold or bitcoin. Under MiCA, significant EMTs face the stricter asset-referenced-token reserve rules (Articles 36 to 38) and six-monthly independent audits. Under GENIUS, issuers publish reserve composition monthly, have it examined by a registered accounting firm, and have the CEO and CFO certify it. How reserves translate into a stable price is covered in how stablecoins hold their value.

Redemption — what holders can demand

MiCA Article 49 gives every holder a claim on the issuer and a right to redeem "at any time and at par value", and says redemption "shall not be subject to a fee". GENIUS requires a published redemption policy with "clear and conspicuous procedures for timely redemption" and plain disclosure of all fees.

Under GENIUS, fees can change only with at least seven days' notice, and only a regulator, not the issuer, may impose discretionary limits on timely redemption. In insolvency, GENIUS gives holders priority over other creditors on the required reserves; Circle's MiCA white paper describes EURC funds as protected from Circle's other creditors in insolvency. Neither framework is deposit insurance. Bank-issued alternatives sit outside both stablecoin regimes; see tokenised deposits vs stablecoins.

The interest ban — and how far it reaches

Both laws ban interest, but MiCA's ban is wider. Article 50 forbids issuers and crypto-asset service providers from granting interest on EMTs, and counts any benefit linked to holding time as interest, even from third parties. GENIUS section 4(a)(11) forbids permitted and foreign issuers from paying interest or yield solely for holding, using or retaining a coin.

The difference is who is caught. In the EU an exchange cannot pay holders a reward simply for keeping EMTs on the platform. The GENIUS text binds issuers, which is why US exchange rewards on stablecoin balances remain a live argument; the existing US debate is covered in the GENIUS Act, explained. Neither law stops a holder lending a stablecoin out in DeFi and earning a borrower's interest, a different activity with its own risks; see stablecoin yield explained. Products that do pay yield are structured as securities; see yield-bearing stablecoins.

Timelines — what applies when

MiCA entered into force in June 2023, applied its stablecoin titles from 30 June 2024 and the rest from 30 December 2024, and ended its longest transition for crypto service providers on 1 July 2026. The GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025 and takes effect on 18 January 2027 at the latest.

Date	Event
29 Jun 2023	MiCA in force (some empowerments apply)
30 Jun 2024	MiCA Titles III and IV (asset-referenced and e-money tokens) apply
1 Jul 2024	Circle's French e-money licence; USDC and EURC issued under MiCA
30 Dec 2024	Rest of MiCA applies, including crypto service providers
18 Jul 2025	GENIUS Act signed (Public Law 119-27)
1 Jul 2026	Last day of MiCA's maximum transition for existing service providers
18 Jul 2026	GENIUS one-year rulemaking deadline; passed with proposals only
18 Jan 2027	GENIUS Act takes effect (18 months after enactment)
18 Jul 2028	US service providers may offer only permitted or recognised foreign stablecoins

The GENIUS effective date is the earlier of 18 months after enactment or 120 days after final regulations. With no substantive final rule by 9 October, the January date governs.

What it means for USDC, EURC and USDT

Circle's French entity issues USDC and EURC as authorised e-money tokens and is in ESMA's register, so both can be offered in the EU. USDC, as a dollar token, is also subject to MiCA's means-of-exchange limits for non-EU currencies. In the US, Circle and Tether await the GENIUS rules like everyone else.

• EURC: the model MiCA product, euro-denominated and fee-free to redeem; see what is EURC.
• USDC: MiCA-authorised in the EU; Article 58(3) applies Article 23's cap of 1 million transactions and €200 million a day used as a means of exchange within a single currency area. In the US its money-fund reserve is close to GENIUS's permitted list.
• USDT: Tether is not in ESMA's register, and Article 48 lets only authorised issuers, or others with their written consent, offer an EMT or seek its admission to trading; its reserves include gold and bitcoin, which GENIUS reserves cannot. Tether launched USAT, issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, for the US. The two coins are compared in USDC vs USDT.

How these fit together

The two laws agree on the core: licensed issuers, full reserves, redemption rights, no issuer interest. MiCA is stricter on the edges that touch users, with fee-free redemption, an interest ban that reaches exchanges, and caps on foreign-currency coins used for payments. GENIUS is stricter on the reserve list and on disclosure, and more open to foreign issuers through comparability. For networks such as Stellar, nothing changes at the protocol level; what changes is which issuers and wallets can serve which users.

The takeaway

If you hold USDC or EURC, both regimes point the same way: a regulated issuer and a cash-like reserve. If you rely on exchange rewards or on coins without an EU or US licence, MiCA already limits you and GENIUS will from 2027 and 2028. The dates to watch are 18 January 2027 and 18 July 2028.

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA), Articles 23, 36-38, 43, 48, 49, 50, 54, 56, 58, 117, 143 and 149 (EUR-Lex); GENIUS Act, Public Law 119-27, sections 3, 4, 13, 18 and 20 (govinfo); Federal Register API (to 9 Oct 2026); ESMA interim MiCA register, EMTWP.csv (7 Oct 2026); Circle press release (1 Jul 2024) and MiCA EURC white paper; Tether USAT launch (27 Jan 2026) and Q2 2026 attestation; DefiLlama stablecoins API (9 Oct 2026).