Tether-backed companies have launched stablecoins in the EU in compliance with MiCA

What’s new? StablR and Oobit, two companies backed by Tether, the issuer of USDT, the largest stablecoin by capitalization, have launched their own stablecoins in Europe in compliance with the EU’s common Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Earlier, crypto exchanges began delisting USDT in the EU as it did not meet the requirements of the new cryptocurrency legislation.

Source: X.com

What else is known? As part of the initiative, crypto payment company Oobit will integrate StablR’s fiat-pegged stablecoins — StablR Euro (EURR) and StablR USD (USDR) — into its platform, allowing users across the EU to spend and store digital assets.

StablR will use the platform to issue Hadron tokenized assets from Tether as part of its compliance system, including regular reserve checks.

To incentivize the adoption of new assets, users will receive 5% cashback in stablecoin rewards when using EURR or USDR.

The move comes months after Tether was forced to withdraw its lesser-known euro-pegged stablecoin (EURT) from the European market, partly due to MiCA requirements.

EURT had previously dominated the euro-stablecoin market, with a capitalization of up to $500 million. However, following the phased implementation of certain MiCA provisions that began last June, compliant stablecoins such as Stasis’ EURS, Circle’s EURC, and Société Générale’s EURCV have started to overtake it in terms of market share.

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“As anticipated, MICA’s full implementation has triggered a demand for regulatory-compliant stablecoins in European markets, prompting affected entities such as Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, to look for alternative solutions to continue serving the European stablecoin market,” the companies wrote in a statement.

Oobit is a mobile crypto payment app integrated with iOS and Android that utilizes existing Visa and Mastercard point-of-sale systems. StablR is a scalable stablecoin platform that issues assets pegged to the euro and dollar.

Oobit raised $25 million in a Series A round led by Tether last year. Other investors include CMCC Global’s Titan Fund, 468 Capital, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, commenting on the investment in StablR late last year, said it was an attempt to maintain a presence in Europe.

Thus, in 2024, StablR received an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Malta Financial Services Authority, which allowed it to issue fully regulated stablecoins across Europe. The startup was one of the first users of the Hadron platform.