By CARLO BOFFA, EU Correspondent
The European Central Bank on Tuesday called on EU lawmakers to close a regulatory gap that still allows some stablecoin issuers to operate without anti-money laundering obligations.
Issuers of asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) without a financial-sector licence are exempt from rules that bind all other crypto firms, the central bank said.
“The rationale for this divergence is unclear and does not appear consistent with the principle of ‘same activity, same risk, same regulation’,” the ECB said.
The ECB also called for a stronger role for the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) to close that gap, and reiterated its support for extending the European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) powers to authorise and supervise crypto exchanges.
The ECB set out the proposals in its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on updates to MiCA, the EU’s landmark crypto legislation.
The review of MiCA should also trigger a reassessment of the rules governing information exchange between parties to a crypto transaction, the ECB said.
Under the EU’s crypto legislation, issuers of stablecoins not denominated in an EU currency face an issuance limit to prevent their widespread use as a means of exchange. But because crypto transactions carry no reference comparable to a bank transfer, regulators struggle to assess when that limit is reached.
The ECB proposed reviewing crypto transaction rules in line with the Financial Action Task Force’s 2025 update to the so-called Travel Rule, which governs the information that must accompany a transaction.
The bank said self-hosted wallets, which fall outside regulators’ oversight, deserved particular attention.
The ECB also opposed requirements for stablecoin issuers to hold a minimum share of their reserves as bank deposits, warning it could leave lenders exposed to a rout in crypto markets.
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