Two dates will complete the reshaping of Europe’s stablecoin market: on 30 October 2026 Coinbase starts converting users’ USDT into compliant tokens, and on 12 November 2026 the European Banking Authority (EBA) takes over direct supervision of Circle’s USDC.
The backdrop is a market that has already flipped. Kaiko’s report, published on 27 October, put USDC at 56% of euro-paired stablecoin trading volume, up from 10% in January 2024. Kaiko also found USDC’s euro order books roughly 40% deeper than USDT’s. Tether’s USDT did not pursue MiCA compliance in Europe, so European exchanges have been restricting or delisting it to stay within the rules, according to the report’s account of the shift.
30 October: Coinbase pulls the trigger
Coinbase will automatically convert USDT and 13 other non-compliant tokens for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) on or after 30 October. For anyone holding USDT on the exchange, the balance simply becomes a MiCA-approved token: no manual swap is required. The move follows the end of MiCA’s transitional period in mid-2026, after which non-compliant tokens could be delisted from European platforms.
Traders outside the EEA are unaffected. USDT remains the larger stablecoin globally, with a circulating supply about 2.5 times USDC’s, and MiCA reaches licensed intermediaries rather than decentralised protocols, so USDT’s usage in DeFi is largely untouched.
12 November: supervision begins
USDC was recognised as the EU’s first ‘significant’ e-money token under MiCA on 14 October, a designation that brings direct EBA oversight of its reserves and liquidity. That oversight begins on 12 November. Circle won the flip by positioning for compliance; the cost is a supervisor watching its reserves in real time, the first such arrangement for a stablecoin in the EU.
The direction of travel is visible in our own coverage: the EBA’s designation of USDC as the EU’s first significant e-money token set up this handover, and ESMA’s push to end custody and transfer services for non-compliant stablecoins is squeezing USDT further.
Two caveats keep the numbers in proportion. Kaiko’s figures show euro-backed stablecoins holding under 8% of total euro trading volume, so the euro stablecoin market itself remains small even as its hierarchy flips. And Kaiko, whose report is not directly accessible, suggests the United States is heading the same way under the GENIUS Act: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued its first final rule under the law on 21 October, with reserve and redemption requirements effective 18 January 2027, and restrictions on US platforms offering non-approved stablecoins from July 2028.
