Circle Secures MiCA Approval to Expand Crypto Services Across Europe

Circle has achieved a significant regulatory milestone in Europe after its French entity received approval to operate under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. 

According to Circle’s press release, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) granted the approval on April 20, 2026, allowing Circle France, the legal entity Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS, to provide crypto-asset services in compliance with MiCA.

The AMF approval builds on Circle’s existing Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license, granted by the French banking regulator ACPR inJuly 2024, which made USD Coin (USDC) and Euro Coin (EURC) compliant as MiCA-regulated e-money tokens. The new authorization is a separate, additional approval specifically covering crypto-asset services under MiCA, alongside the EMI license that governs token issuance. 

This latest development positions Circle as the largest regulated e-money token issuer under MiCA in the EU, reinforcing its foothold in the region’s rapidly evolving digital asset landscape.

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Custody and transfer services

With this approval, Circle France is now authorized to offer custody and transfer services for crypto-assets linked to its stablecoins, USDC and EURC.

The authorization aligns with Article 60(4) of the MiCA framework and enables Circle France to extend these services across the European Economic Area (EEA). This means institutional and retail users throughout the region can now access regulated infrastructure for managing and transferring these digital assets.

Of the top 10 stablecoins by market cap, USDC remains one of the few fully MiCA-compliant offerings; USDC has a market cap of around $77 billion, while EURC accounts for roughly half of the euro stablecoin market with €370 million in circulation.

Supporting digital financial infrastructure

Circle emphasized that the approval reflects its long-term strategy of operating within established regulatory frameworks while helping build a reliable financial infrastructure for digital assets in Europe.

Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy and Operations at Circle, stated: “This milestone reflects our continued commitment to working within European regulatory frameworks and supporting the development of trusted digital financial infrastructure in France and across the EU.”

Prior to this regulatory milestone, Circle had also introduced a breakthrough nanopayments system designed to enable ultra-small USD Coin (USDC) transactions. The system enables payments from as low as $0.000001 up to $1 million, supporting use cases like API calls, computing power, and pay-per-use services, while advancing more efficient, granular digital payments.

Circle France’s MiCA approval not only strengthens its regulatory standing but also signals growing institutional maturity within Europe’s crypto sector. By enabling regulated custody and transfer services for USDC and EURC across the EEA, Circle is positioning itself at the forefront of compliant digital finance in the region.

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