Europe | Crypto

The European Central Bank warns in a new working paper that as stablecoin adoption grows, deposits may leave banks, affecting lending and monetary policy transmission. The European Central Bank said increasing stablecoin use may pull money out of bank deposits and weaken the way monetary policy flows through to lending, according to a new ECB working paper. Growing adoption of stablecoins, which are digital assets often pegged to currencies such as the US dollar or euro, is expected to draw funds away from traditional bank deposits, the ECB said in its latest working paper series, “Stablecoins and Monetary Policy Transmission,” released Tuesday. “Our analysis shows that rising interest in stablecoins is linked to a measurable decline in retail bank deposits and a reduction in lending to firms,” ECB staff said, adding that stablecoins can reduce the amount of credit banks provide to the real economy. Read more

Five straight weeks of net redemptions from crypto investment products are enough to raise the alarm, as they point to a choice that keeps getting made, with the same logic, on the same cadence, by the same kinds of committees. CoinShares' Feb. 23 weekly report showed digital asset investment products saw $288 million in outflows […] The post Europe buys the dip as US funds keep bleeding – who is buying Bitcoin right now? appeared first on CryptoSlate.

21Shares debuts the Strategy Yield ETP on Euronext Amsterdam on Thursday, giving Europe regulated access to Strategy’s preferred stock, which is heavily backed by Bitcoin. Crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) provider 21Shares has launched an investment product giving European investors access to a preferred stock issued by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest public holder of Bitcoin. The asset manager will list its 21Shares Strategy Yield ETP under the ticker “STRC NA” on Euronext Amsterdam on Thursday, the company said Wednesday. The ETP is available to institutional and retail investors, offering a dividend backed by Strategy’s Bitcoin (BTC) treasury, which currently holds 717,722 BTC, valued at around $47 billion. With dividends set at a variable 11.25% annualized rate, the ETP represents one of the earliest structured, BTC-backed corporate securities available to European investors. Read more

Two regulators converged on the same market from opposite directions in February 2026. The European Securities and Markets Authority warned that derivatives marketed as “perpetual futures” or “perpetual contracts” tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum likely fall within the scope of contracts-for-difference regulations, regardless of what firms call them. Days earlier, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission […] The post Crypto traders are chasing 10x leverage in the US while Europe tightens the screws behind the scenes appeared first on CryptoSlate.

ECB president Christine Lagarde is a crypto skeptic, but her likely successors are no more enthusiastic about cryptocurrencies. European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde is stepping down sometime before the French presidential election next year. Under her leadership, the ECB has consulted on the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) legislation that defined the crypto landscape in the European Union. The preeminent European bank also began work on the digital euro — the next iteration of the Eurozone’s currency. But there is still work to be done on crypto policy in Europe. MiCA does not, in its current form, regulate decentralized finance (DeFi), and policymakers at the ECB are still deliberating over the digital euro’s final details. Read more

The Dutch electronic money issuer will act as a BIN sponsor for fintech partners, linking regulated dollar- and euro-denominated tokens to mainstream card rails. Dutch payments company Quantoz Payments has become a principal member of Visa, enabling it to issue virtual debit cards backed by its regulated e-money tokens and sponsor third-party fintechs seeking to offer stablecoin-linked payment products across Europe. Under the agreement, Quantoz will be able to issue Visa-branded virtual cards tied to balances held in its USDQ, EURQ and EURD e-money tokens, allowing users to spend those funds online, in stores and through mobile wallets. The company will also act as a BIN sponsor, enabling fintech partners to embed card issuance directly into their platforms. Read more

The move strengthens institutional support for 21Shares’ multibillion dollar digital asset investment platform and broadens its regulated staking capabilities. BitGo Holdings and 21Shares said Thursday they have expanded their existing partnership to include custody and staking services supporting 21Shares’ crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) for investors in the United States and Europe. Under the agreement, BitGo will deliver qualified custody, trading and execution services and integrated staking infrastructure for 21Shares’ US exchange-traded funds and global ETPs. The arrangement also provides 21Shares with access to liquidity across electronic and over-the-counter markets, according to the announcement. BitGo said the services will be delivered through its regulated entities in the US and Europe, including its federally chartered trust bank approved by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and its MiCA-licensed operations authorized by Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. ...

The product offers exchange-traded exposure to JitoSOL with staking rewards embedded, as liquid staking ETFs remain under review in the United States. 21Shares has launched a Jito-staked Solana exchange-traded product in Europe, offering listed exposure to the SOL token with staking embedded. The 21Shares Jito Staked SOL ETP will trade under the ticker JSOL in US dollars and euros and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Paris, making it the first Europe-listed ETP backed by JitoSOL, according to the company. The product holds JitoSOL directly and reflects staking rewards in its net asset value. Issued by the Jito Network, JitoSOL represents SOL (SOL) deposited into a liquid staking program on the Solana network, where staked tokens remain transferable rather than locked. Holding JitoSOL allows investors to earn staking yield through a liquid token, without directly delegating to validators or managing onchain staking operations. Read more

DeFi is still out of scope for DAC8 and CARF, but AML enforcement trends suggest that may not last, according to Taxbit’s Colby Mangels. The European Union’s new cryptocurrency tax reporting framework is built around what governments can immediately enforce, leaving decentralized finance (DeFi) outside its scope for now. A former Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) official who worked on the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) said that this gap is a deliberate focus and not a blind spot. “It doesn’t make sense to go to your grandma and ask her to give you all the tax reporting on crypto just because you happened to work with her over a certain period,” Colby Mangels, Taxbit’s global head of government solutions and a former OECD adviser, told Cointelegraph. “You really have to go to the intermediaries that are doing this as a business.” Read more

Former London Stock Exchange Group executive Sabina Liu will lead KuCoin EU’s MiCA-era expansion from Vienna, as the exchange pivots toward a compliance-first European strategy. KuCoin has appointed former London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) executive Sabina Liu to lead its European business, tasking her with steering the exchange’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) expansion from Vienna after securing a crypto asset service provider license in Austria. Liu, who will serve as managing director of KuCoin EU, previously ran KuCoin’s institutional business and also spent more than a decade at the LSEG working with global investment banks and cross-border trading clients, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph. Liu told Cointelegraph that securing a MiCA license was a “major milestone” that gave KuCoin a unified regulatory framework to serve a region with mature and diverse finance, increasing crypto use and “significant room” for further adoption across stablecoins, payments and wealth pr...

As the US delays crypto laws and Europe enforces MiCA, markets face regulatory gaps, capital shifts and uneven compliance costs for global firms. Europe has moved from drafting to enforcing crypto rules under MiCA, giving companies clear timelines, licensing paths and compliance milestones across all EU member states. The US still relies on a multi-agency, enforcement-led framework, with major questions about token classification and market structure waiting on new federal legislation. MiCA’s single-license model allows crypto firms to operate across the EU after approval in one country, encouraging companies to base early expansion strategies in Europe. Read more

Brighty co-founder Nikolay Denisenko, a former lead backend engineer at Revolut, says his startup has brokered over 100 deals for HNWIs to buy apartments in Europe.

[PRESS RELEASE – Marbella, Spain, January 2nd, 2026] The partnership establishes a fully regulated legal and financial framework that enables international investors to acquire properties across Europe (primarily in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, and Montenegro) using cryptocurrency, safely, transparently, and in full compliance with European law. Vicox Legal, a pioneering European law firm specialising in […]

As MiCA enters its implementation phase, uneven enforcement across the EU is reigniting debate over whether crypto supervision should move from national regulators to ESMA. Europe’s crypto regulatory framework is entering a new phase of scrutiny as policymakers weigh whether enforcement of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation should remain with national authorities or be centralized under the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). MiCA, which came largely into force at the beginning of 2025, was designed to create a unified rulebook for crypto-asset service providers across the European Union. But as implementation progresses, disparities between member states are becoming harder to ignore. Some regulators have approved dozens of licenses, while others have issued only a handful, prompting concerns about inconsistent supervision and regulatory arbitrage. Read more

The Bonk price prediction has turned very positive after the launch of a Bonk ETP in Switzerland, with strong rallies now imminent. The post Bonk Price Prediction: BONK ETP Launches in Europe – Could This Spark the First Institutional Meme Coin Run? appeared first on Cryptonews.

US stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act are splitting global liquidity with Europe, creating regional markets and potentially leading to cross-border friction, a report says. The United States’ new approach to stablecoin regulation is reshaping global liquidity flows and driving a sharp structural split with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regime, effectively creating separate US and EU stablecoin liquidity pools, according to a new report from blockchain security auditor CertiK. The report finds that the US digital asset market entered a new phase of regulatory clarity in 2025, with federal legislation and administrative reforms now broadly aligned around how digital assets are issued, traded and custodied. At the center of that shift is the GENIUS Act, signed into law by US President Donald Trump in July, which establishes the first federal framework for payment stablecoins. The law imposes strict reserve requirements, bans yield-bearing stablecoins, and formally integrates stablecoin ...

KuCoin has secured an Austrian MiCAR license, allowing KuCoin EU to provide regulated, audited digital asset services across most of the EEA, as part of its Trust and Compliance strategy and broader shift toward licensed exchanges, with peers such as Bybit also receiving MiCAR approval. The post KuCoin EU Gains MiCAR Approval to Roll Out Digital Asset Services in Europe appeared first on Cryptonews.

Europe’s leading asset manager Amundi is launching the first tokenized money market fund, and it has chosen the Ethereum blockchain.

21Shares, one of the largest crypto ETF issuers with $8 billion in assets, continues to introduce more investment products in Europe as an influx of new crypto ETFs hits the US. 21Shares, a major crypto exchange-traded product (ETP) provider, is expanding its offerings in Europe with the launch of six more funds on Sweden’s stock exchange, Nasdaq Stockholm. 21Shares on Thursday announced the cross-listing of six additional products on Nasdaq Stockholm, including ETPs for Aave (AAVE), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Polkadot (DOT) and two crypto basket products. With the expansion, 21shares now offers a total of 16 ETPs on Nasdaq Stockholm, which is just a fraction of multiple offerings available on other European exchanges like SIX Swiss Exchange, Deutsche Börse Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam and more. Read more

Stablecoins originated as crypto plumbing, tokens pegged to fiat currencies that enable traders to move in and out of volatile assets without relying on traditional banking systems. That narrow use case now sits on a market capitalization of more than $303 billion, up roughly 75% year-over-year, with Tether commanding about 56% of the market and […] The post The $300 billion backdoor threat that Europe didn’t see coming appeared first on CryptoSlate.