On 14 October 2026 the European Banking Authority classified USDC, issued in the EU by Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS, as a significant e-money token under MiCA, the EU's regulation on crypto-assets. It was the first of the 45 e-money tokens notified in the EU to receive that classification (EBA press release).
MiCA sets out seven criteria for significance. They include more than 10 million holders; a value issued, market capitalisation or reserve above €5 billion; and more than 2.5 million transactions a day with an average total value of daily transactions exceeding €500 million. The others concern the issuer's international reach, its interconnection with the financial system, whether it is a designated gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, and whether it issues other tokens while providing crypto-asset services. An e-money token is classified as significant when at least three are met (Article 43, applied to e-money tokens by Article 56).
The classification moves part of the supervision from the national level to the EU. From 12 November 2026 the EBA directly supervises USDC's own funds, its reserve of assets, its liquidity, and its recovery and redemption plans. The French supervisor, the ACPR, keeps responsibility for governance and other areas.
Significance is about scale. It brings closer, EU-level supervision because a token is large; it is not a judgement on whether the token is sounder or weaker than others. USDC's reporting cadence and attestor are on its coin record.