Key Takeaways
- Greenberg stressed that European users “value access to USDT,” and Kraken maintains stablecoin offerings
- He added that Kraken will remain legally compliant but will find ways to continue to offer all relevant stablecoins to its European customers.
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has stated that it has no plans” to delist Tether (USDT) in Europe . This development comes amid reports surfacing that the firm was “actively reviewing” the decision to remain legally compliant with MiCA.
Mark Greenberg, Kraken’s global head of asset growth and management took to X(formerly Twitter) to dispel rumours.
“Kraken continues to list USDT in Europe and we have no plans to delist at this time,” his tweet reads.
He further added that Kraken will remain legally compliant but will find ways to continue to offer all relevant stablecoins to its European customers. Greenberg stressed that European users “value access to USDT,” and Kraken maintains stablecoin offerings
Mark Greenberg was compelled to put out a statement as media reports that stated Marcus Hughes, Kraken’s global head of regulatory strategy, mentioned planning for potential delisting, including tokens like USDT was gaining traction.
Earlier in May, Marcus Hughes reportedly said, “We’re absolutely planning for all eventualities, including situations where it’s just not tenable to list specific tokens such as USDT.”
Last year, leading crypto exchange Binance also announced plans to make a similar decision — citing a need to comply with MiCA — but the firm hasn’t made any decision on delisting USDT yet. Earlier this year, crypto exchange OKX discontinued support for USDT trading pairs in the European Economic Area citing the need to comply with MiCAto comply with the coming rules.
The MiCA regulation does not use the term stablecoin explicitly but asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) and electronic money tokens (EMT) are both types of stablecoins that the European Banking Authority may consider significant based on an established set of criteria. MiCA confirms that stablecoin issuers must be regulated as electronic money institutions.
MiCA states that issuers of fiat stablecoins must comply with the existing electronic money directive (EMD). It further adds that the current law which states only EMIs and credit institutions can legally issue fiat stablecoins in the the multinational European Economic Area trading bloc.
