Circle just might beat Tether, in Europe

Speaking of races — there's a stablecoin race afoot in Europe, where the incumbent has a more dubious hold on the market.

The intrigue: Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework has gone into effect, but only one of the two major issuers behind dollar-pegged stablecoins (Circle) has received a license to operate there.

The big picture: That market looks like Circle's to win, though it is still far behind Tether.

• Circle's USDC is the second largest U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, with roughly $32 billion in circulation. Tether's USDT has $112 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
• Circle and Tether also each have euro-pegged stables; their respective circulating supplies are measured in the millions and are more in line with each other.

Zoom in: Circle announced yesterday that it was the first to achieve compliance with MiCA, obtaining an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from French regulators.

• The firm's EU strategy policy officer Patrick Hansen said the quiet part loud when he retweeted the announcement and touted Circle's superlative as "the first and only" global stablecoin issuer to meet the mark.
• Fun fact: Circle chief Jeremy Allaire paid a photographer in EURC for its inaugural transaction.

The other side: Axios reached out to Tether chief Paolo Ardoino, asking whether it too received an EMI license, but a spokesperson emailed us a paragraph statement attributable to Ardoino that didn't address the question.

• When we pressed for an answer, that spokesperson said it would be the "only statement" we would receive from Tether.
• One part of that read: "While Tether is optimistic about MiCA's long term implementation, it remains crucial that stablecoin regulatory policies enacted are balanced, protect consumers, and nurture growth in our emerging industry."

💭 Crystal's thought bubble: If Tether did receive its EMI license to operate in the EU, it would probably be less cryptic about it. 🤷‍♀️