mica

Tether CEO Paolo #Ardoino has voiced serious concerns over the #European Union’s regulatory approach to stablecoins, warning it could expose the financial system to significant risks and even potential bank failures.In a recent appearance on the Less Noise More Signal podcast, Ardoino criticized new EU rules that could compel stablecoin issuers to store up to 60% of their reserves in uninsured bank deposits—often held at smaller, less resilient financial institutions. “If you have a 10 billion euro-pegged stablecoin, you're talking about placing 6 billion euros in banks that may not be equipped to handle such exposure,” Ardoino said. “And the deposit insurance limit in Europe is just 100,000 euros. It’s like spitting on a fire.
He emphasized that this approach creates a systemic vulnerability. Under the EU’s Markets in #Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, stablecoin issuers are required to hold large portions of their reserves within the banking sector, even though many European banks operate on a fractional-reserve model—only keeping a small percentage of deposits in reserve while lending out the rest.

“In this scenario,” Ardoino explained, “if a bank is holding 6 billion euros of stablecoin reserves, 5.4 billion could be lent out to fund mortgages, business loans, and other investments. That significantly increases counterparty #risk , especially during economic downturns.”

Ardoino’s comments arrive at a time of increasing scrutiny toward both the cryptocurrency and banking sectors in Europe . While the #MiCA regulation is intended to provide consumer protections and stabilize digital assets, critics argue that forcing #crypto companies to rely heavily on traditional banks undermines the very resilience stablecoins are designed to provide.

Tether, which operates the world's most widely used stablecoin USDT, has long maintained a reserve strategy that prioritizes liquidity and safety, often preferring U.S. Treasury bills over uninsured bank deposits. Ardoino suggested that the EU’s stance may need to evolve to reflect the structural risks posed by the current banking model—especially amid rising interest rates, sovereign debt pressures, and geopolitical uncertainty.

“We are not against regulation,” Ardoino clarified. “But regulation should enhance stability, not introduce new systemic risks by forcing capital into fragile parts of the economy.”

As the EU’s crypto regulatory landscape continues to evolve, Ardoino’s warning serves as a stark reminder of the delicate balance between innovation, compliance, and finan
cial security.

The cryptocurrency phenomenon did not erupt from the desire to create new financial instruments. It was never born in pursuit of more efficient markets, nor as a response to speculative greed — that came later. Its first breath was political, almost metaphysical: a decentralized inscription of resistance against the cartographies of surveillance, against institutions whose legitimacy was presumed rather than proven. In this sense, the earliest cryptocurrencies were not commodities, but confrontations — confrontations with the nature of authority, property, memory, and value.
Privacy-preserving tools like Monero or Zcash were never mere “options” within this paradigm. They were not deviations, but intensifications. They took the foundational proposition of crypto — that transaction without mediation is not only possible but desirable — and gave it the radicalism it deserved. Not transparency, but discretion. Not identification, but autonomy. These tools were built not to hide crime, but to make the human condition slightly less decipherable to power. And that is precisely what makes them intolerable.
By 2027, under the sweeping reforms of the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), these expressions of cryptographic discretion will be rendered incompatible with legality. Anonymous accounts will be prohibited. Service providers will be forced to track, store, and disclose the identities of users. Any protocol or coin that allows obfuscation, privacy layering, or transaction mixing will be banned from European jurisdictions — not merely regulated, but erased.
The justification is predictable: crime, terrorism, the black market, tax evasion. Yet the deeper function of such a regulation is not juridical but symbolic. It does not merely target bad actors. It seeks to transform the ontological status of crypto in Europe — from a technology of resistance into a domesticated extension of the banking system. That is not a marginal policy change. It is the burial of a dream.
For Europe, this marks a philosophical rupture. It reveals a fundamental discomfort with ambiguity, with shadows, with what cannot be indexed. The continent that gave the world Kafka and Camus — where suspicion of authority was once the seed of literature, theory, revolt — now finds itself legislating against cryptographic uncertainty as if it were an existential threat. Privacy, once a right, becomes a liability. And crypto, once a frontier, becomes an institution in chains.
This transformation will not go unnoticed in the culture that once flourished around it. The European crypto community — particularly the builders, the cypherpunks, the artists, the legal philosophers, the anarcho-technologists — will find themselves in a new position: not as contributors to innovation, but as witnesses to its suppression. We will see, in real time, the conversion of a vibrant, transgressive subculture into a regime of compliance. The galleries will become offices. The manifestos will become whitepapers. And the trustless architectures will be remade in the image of the very powers they once opposed.
Yet history does not obey decrees. Hegemony, as Gramsci taught us, is never permanent — it must be maintained by consent, or by coercion. In banning the tools of economic discretion, the European Union does not eliminate the instinct that created them. It merely pushes it elsewhere. Perhaps into new protocols. Perhaps into new jurisdictions. Perhaps into silence, for a time. But the hunger for sovereignty — over one's data, one's money, one's memory — is not so easily extinguished.
What remains, then, is not optimism, but clarity. Crypto in Europe will continue, but it will no longer speak the language of rebellion. It will speak the language of institutions, of permissions, of sanctioned innovation. Those who remember otherwise — who remember why this began — may find themselves in exile. Not geographical, but cultural.
And still, they will build.

#AMLR2027

#CryptoRegulation

#CASP

#MiCA

Content analysis from a legal and user perspective.

The latest statement from Tether's CEO – Mr. Paolo Ardoino – regarding non-compliance with the EU's MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) regulatory framework may be controversial, but from a long-term development perspective, this is a positive signal for the improvement of global cryptocurrency regulations.

Why does Tether oppose MiCA?

According to Mr. Ardoino, the regulation requiring stablecoins to reserve 60% of assets in cash at European banks will put significant pressure on the financial system, especially on small and medium banks – which have already faced many challenges after recent liquidity crises. He warns that if forced to comply, some banks may go bankrupt in the coming years, leading to adverse consequences for users and the market.

In a development attracting global financial attention, ING – the largest bank in the Netherlands – is reportedly secretly developing its own branded stablecoin project to capitalize on the wave of cryptocurrency legalization in Europe through the MiCA legal framework.

If completed, ING will officially join the stablecoin race alongside formidable competitors like Société Générale (France), Circle (USA), and Tether, and could create a significant boost for both the traditional crypto market and traditional banks.

Binance has just announced it will adjust the provision of non-compliant stablecoins under MiCA regulations in the European Economic Area (EEA), following new guidance from EU regulators. The affected stablecoins include #USDT , FDUSD, TUSD, USDP, DAI, AEUR, UST, USTC, and PAXG.
📌 Which stablecoins are still maintained?
Compliant stablecoins
such as USDC, EURI along with fiat currency pairs (EUR) are still supported on Binance.

Norwegian authorities have indicted four men for operating a Ponzi investment scheme that defrauded nearly 963 million NOK (86.5 million USD) from investors between 2015-2018. The scammers lured victims into investing in 'virtual' product packages, including cryptocurrencies and stocks, but in reality, no actual investments were made.
Ponzi Scheme – Preying on Investor Trust