USDC Gains Ground in Euro Trading as MiCA Reshapes Stablecoin Liquidity
USDC’s growing share of euro stablecoin trading shows how market access rules can shift liquidity between competing tokens. The Circle-issued stablecoin now accounts for 56% of euro trading, up from 10% in January 2024, according to Kaiko. That change points to a market where exchange access can matter as much as a token’s scale: a stablecoin needs to be available where customers trade euros if it’s to capture those flows.
The change gathered pace after major exchanges restricted USDT trading for customers in the European Economic Area under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). USDC’s euro-denominated order books are now roughly 40% deeper than USDT’s, though Tether’s token remains larger worldwide, with about 2.5 times USDC’s circulating supply. Those figures describe different kinds of strength. Circulating supply measures the token’s global footprint; order-book depth indicates how much trading activity euro markets can absorb near current prices.
Kaiko calls stablecoin-to-euro pairs a “main on-ramp and off-ramp for European customers”: they let traders exchange euros for dollar-pegged stablecoins when entering or leaving crypto markets. That function gives the euro pair practical importance beyond its share of headline trading. For a customer moving between a bank balance and crypto assets, the pair can be a direct point of access.
USDC-to-euro trading pair overtakes USDC-to-USDT. Source: Kaiko
Compliance shapes the competition
The shift comes about two weeks after the European Banking Authority designated USDC the EU’s first “significant e-money token” under MiCA. That status brings direct EBA supervision and additional requirements for Circle. The timing offers a useful snapshot of how rules and market structure can interact, though it doesn’t by itself establish that the designation caused USDC’s larger euro share.
For exchanges, restrictions change which tokens customers can readily trade. When one option becomes harder to access, activity may shift toward a permitted alternative, especially if that alternative already has usable euro order books. The result can reinforce itself: more trading can attract more liquidity, while deeper liquidity can make a pair more practical for further trading. But the figures here don’t show how much of USDC’s gain came from exchange restrictions, customer preference, or other market factors.
Related: Germany leads MiCA crypto authorization race as Europe’s deadline looms
Kaiko sees a possible parallel in the United States, where the GENIUS Act could prompt a similar reallocation of trading activity. On Oct. 21, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued its first final rule under the law, setting reserve and redemption requirements for supervised stablecoin issuers. The rule takes effect Jan. 18, 2027. Starting in July 2028, US platforms will also face limits on offering tokens from issuers that don’t meet the law’s approval requirements.
Those dates create a long interval between the rule taking effect and the platform limits beginning. That gives issuers and exchanges time to respond, but the European example suggests that access decisions can influence trading before a market’s largest token loses its global scale. Here’s the thing: a shift in trading share can be meaningful without implying that one stablecoin has become dominant everywhere.
What the shift means for issuers and traders
Circle has pursued authorization in both markets. Tether, by comparison, has introduced a separate US-focused stablecoin, USAT. The contrast reflects different approaches to serving markets with distinct access requirements, but the article’s figures don’t establish how either company’s strategy will perform over time.
This is more significant than it looks: liquidity isn’t just a scorecard for issuers. Deeper order books can make it easier for traders to enter or exit positions without moving prices as much, while thinner books can make the same trade more costly. If you’re working in this space, the practical question is whether euro liquidity remains available across the pairs customers actually use (and this is the part most people overlook).
And yet, USDT’s roughly 2.5-times-larger circulating supply underlines the limits of reading one regional market as a global verdict. The European data suggest that access and liquidity can move quickly when exchange rules change; whether US markets follow the same pattern remains to be seen. A single share figure, however striking, is only one part of that answer.
Related: Treasury Secretary Bessent likens GENIUS Act to Lincoln-era banking reform
