explains
MiCA vs GENIUS Act: EU and US Stablecoin Rules Compared
The EU regulates crypto-assets as a class, with passporting across 27 Member States; the US regulates payment stablecoins through three charter paths. Where the regimes align — and where they force a choice.
Published
MiCA regulates the EU's full crypto asset market with passporting; the GENIUS Act covers US payment stablecoins only.
Reader Brief
MiCA and the GENIUS Act answer different questions. MiCA regulates the EU's full crypto-asset perimeter — e-money tokens, asset-referenced tokens, and CASP licensing — with passporting across 27 Member States. The GENIUS Act regulates payment stablecoins only, through three US charter paths, with stricter reserve composition rules. Neither regime recognizes the other's authorizations.
- 14 EMI-authorized EMT issuers tracked in 9 EU member states
- 3 Issuance paths under the GENIUS Act
- 33 Stablecoin laws enacted worldwide in 2025
The two frameworks are the anchor events of the largest lawmaking wave stablecoins have seen: of the 132 stablecoin laws tracked in the Plexo registry, 33 were enacted in 2025 alone — a record year, double 2024's total. MiCA reached full application first and set the vocabulary; the GENIUS Act answered with a deliberately narrower statute. This page compares them dimension by dimension, building on Plexo's MiCA explainer and GENIUS Act explainer.
The comparison at a glance
The regimes are often framed as competitors, but they are structurally different instruments. MiCA is a market-regulation code for an entire asset class; the GENIUS Act is a banking-law statute for a single product. The table below compares them across the eight dimensions that matter most to issuers and operators.
| Dimension | MiCA (EU) | GENIUS Act (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | All crypto-assets not already regulated as financial instruments: EMTs, ARTs, other crypto-assets, plus CASP licensing for service providers | Payment stablecoins only; other crypto-assets remain under existing SEC, CFTC, and banking perimeters |
| Effective dates | EMT/ART rules in force 30 June 2024; CASP rules 30 December 2024; Member-State transition periods through 2025–2026 | Signed 18 July 2025 (Public Law 119-27); obligations phase in through federal rulemaking, statutorily no later than 18 months after enactment |
| Issuer authorization path | EMI or credit-institution authorization for EMT issuers; dedicated authorization regime for ART issuers | Three paths: OCC federal trust charter, federal-qualified state regime, or insured depository institution |
| Reserve requirements | 1:1 backing in safeguarded, segregated reserves; low-risk assets; daily reserve verification and periodic disclosure | 1:1 in cash at insured banks, US Treasury bills up to 93 days, T-bill repos, and limited money-market funds; commercial paper, corporate debt, and equities excluded |
| Yield prohibition | Interest on EMTs and ARTs prohibited | Issuer-paid yield on payment stablecoins prohibited |
| Foreign issuer treatment | Offering to the EU public requires an EU-authorized issuer; non-compliant tokens delisted from EU venues (the USDT case) | Foreign issuers depend on US-side comparability determinations for their home regime; no automatic recognition |
| Enforcement authority | National competent authorities, with EBA supervision (and ECB input) for significant EMTs and ARTs | OCC, Federal Reserve, or state regulators, depending on the issuance path chosen |
| Passporting | Yes — one Member State authorization covers all 27 via notification | No cross-border passport; a US charter is national in scope and stops at the border |
Three rows do most of the work. **Scope** decides who must comply at all. The **issuer path** decides which supervisor an issuer answers to and at what operating cost. **Passporting** decides how far a single authorization travels: a MiCA EMT authorization reaches 27 markets from one filing, while a GENIUS charter reaches one — but the US-dollar tokens GENIUS governs already dominate globally, with USDT and USDC alone holding 86.4% of the $297.1B stablecoin market tracked in the Plexo registry.
Scope: a crypto-asset code vs a payment-stablecoin statute
MiCA — Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 — sorts crypto-assets into e-money tokens (EMTs) referencing a single fiat currency, asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) referencing baskets of currencies or assets, and other crypto-assets, then layers a licensing regime for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) on top. The GENIUS Act defines one product — the payment stablecoin — and regulates who may issue it. Everything outside that definition, from algorithmic designs to yield-bearing instruments, stays with the existing US securities, commodities, and banking perimeters.
What does MiCA cover that the GENIUS Act does not?
Most of MiCA has no GENIUS counterpart. The overlap is essentially MiCA's EMT title; the rest of the EU framework regulates activity the US statute deliberately leaves alone:
- **CASP licensing.** Exchanges, custodians, and brokers need MiCA authorization to serve EU clients. GENIUS licenses issuers only; US market-structure rules for intermediaries sit in separate legislation.
- **Asset-referenced tokens.** Basket-referencing tokens have a dedicated, heavier EU regime. GENIUS has no equivalent category.
- **Non-stablecoin crypto-assets.** MiCA imposes white-paper and offering rules on the wider token market. GENIUS does not touch it.
- **Significance escalation.** Large EMTs and ARTs shift from national supervision to the EBA, with ECB input. GENIUS scales supervision by charter type, not by token size.
Issuer paths and market access
In the EU, an EMT issuer needs authorization as an electronic money institution or credit institution in one Member State, and passports from there. As of July 2026, 14 issuers tracked in the Plexo registry hold EMI authorizations across 9 EU member states, with France the largest national cluster at three. Under GENIUS, an issuer picks one of three paths — OCC federal trust charter, federal-qualified state regime, or issuance through an insured depository institution — and its supervisor, operating cost, and likely market position follow from that choice. The full list of EU authorizations is tracked at MiCA-authorized issuers.
Can a MiCA-authorized issuer operate in the US?
Not on the strength of its EU authorization. There is no mutual recognition between the regimes. A French EMI that passports across all 27 Member States still needs a GENIUS-path charter — or a favorable US comparability determination as a foreign issuer — before serving US customers. The reverse also holds: a US-chartered issuer's token cannot be offered to the EU public without an EU-authorized issuer, which is the rule behind USDT's delisting from EU trading venues.
No transatlantic passport
MiCA passporting stops at EU borders and GENIUS charters stop at US borders. Issuers targeting both markets maintain two authorization stacks in parallel — which is why the regimes make stablecoin market access bilateral: negotiated regime by regime, never inherited.
Reserves and yield: strict in different ways
Which regime is stricter on reserves?
On reserve composition, GENIUS is the more prescriptive regime. It enumerates the permitted assets — cash at insured banks, Treasury bills with at most 93 days to maturity, T-bill repos, and limited money-market-fund exposure — and excludes commercial paper, corporate debt, and equities outright. MiCA requires 1:1 backing in safeguarded, segregated reserves with daily verification, but leaves more definitional room inside its low-risk asset categories. On supervisory breadth the ranking reverses: MiCA embeds reserve rules in a full market-conduct code with significance escalation to the EBA, while GENIUS supervision runs through the narrower prudential lens of the chosen charter.
On one structural choice Brussels and Washington fully agree: neither regime lets issuers pay yield. MiCA prohibits interest on EMTs and ARTs; GENIUS prohibits issuer-paid yield on payment stablecoins. Both rules exist for the same reason — keeping payment stablecoins from competing with insured bank deposits for funding.
What the market data shows
Two years into MiCA's EMT regime, regulation has not moved market share toward the regulated EU product class. The 14 euro-pegged stablecoins tracked in the Plexo registry hold $635 million combined — 0.21% of the tracked market, and roughly 0.35% of USDT alone. The sharpest EU-vs-US contrast is commercial, not legal: the EU built the more comprehensive rulebook, while US-dollar tokens hold the market the rules compete for.
- $297.1B Tracked stablecoin market cap 81 stablecoins tracked in the Plexo registry, market data as of July 2026
- 86.4% USDT + USDC share Two US-dollar tokens dominate the tracked market
- $635M All 14 euro stablecoins combined About 0.35% of USDT alone, two years into MiCA's EMT regime
The full quarterly numbers — law counts, issuer authorizations, market concentration, and the jurisdiction-level map — are published in The Plexo Stablecoin Regulation Index — Q3 2026 and tracked live in the stablecoin regulation dataset.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GENIUS Act the US version of MiCA?
Only loosely. The GENIUS Act corresponds to roughly one title of MiCA — the e-money-token regime. It has no CASP licensing, no asset-referenced-token category, no white-paper rules for the wider token market, and no passporting. Calling it "the US MiCA" overstates its scope and understates how prescriptive its reserve schedule is.
Which came first, MiCA or the GENIUS Act?
MiCA. The EU adopted Regulation 2023/1114 in 2023, and its stablecoin provisions took effect on 30 June 2024. The GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025, as Public Law 119-27 — so US lawmakers legislated with MiCA already operating across 27 Member States.
Do both regimes ban interest on stablecoins?
Yes. MiCA prohibits interest on EMTs and ARTs, and GENIUS prohibits issuer-paid yield on payment stablecoins. It is the clearest point of transatlantic convergence, and in both cases the target is the same: preventing payment stablecoins from becoming unregulated deposit substitutes.
Does GENIUS compliance qualify a stablecoin under MiCA automatically?
No. A GENIUS-chartered issuer's token still cannot be offered to the EU public unless an EU-authorized issuer stands behind it under MiCA's EMT rules. Foreign-issuer relief on the US side likewise depends on case-by-case comparability determinations, not on holding a MiCA authorization.
Where to go deeper
Evidence And Sources
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