MiCA Review Heats Up as ESMA, Circle and Hyperliquid Press Brussels for Changes
Updated: 6 days ago
TL;DR: The EU's formal review of its MiCA rulebook has drawn competing submissions, with watchdog ESMA seeking tougher powers while Circle and Hyperliquid lobby to loosen stablecoin reserve rules and clarify on-chain derivatives.
Why MiCA is already being reopened
MiCA was the world's first comprehensive crypto rulebook, and its formal review is now under way. That the EU is reopening it so soon shows how quickly the ground is shifting under crypto regulation.
This week brought a cluster of competing submissions to the European Commission, each pulling the regime in a different direction. The split on display previews the central fight: how heavy Europe's crypto regime ultimately becomes.
ESMA wants more teeth
On 30 September 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published recommendations to the Commission, according to Bitcoin.com. The watchdog asked for stronger supervisory powers, tighter marketing standards, and clearer treatment of non-compliant stablecoins.
ESMA also pushed for explicit rules covering staking, lending and borrowing — activities that MiCA largely left unaddressed. The direction is unambiguous: a regulator asking for more reach, not less.
Circle and Hyperliquid want fewer constraints
The issuers pulled the other way. Circle asked to replace MiCA's fixed bank-deposit thresholds — 30% of reserves for e-money tokens and 60% for significant issuers — with liquidity-based rules, citing the $3.3 billion of USDC reserves briefly trapped in the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as reported by crypto.news.
Circle also challenged the 35% sovereign-exposure ceiling and the 1.5% banking-counterparty limit, and pushed to keep multi-issuance arrangements. Separately, Hyperliquid's Policy Center urged Brussels to regulate on-chain perpetuals under MiFID II rather than MiCA — its first non-US policy submission, per The Block.
Marketing Minute's read: the rules are being rewritten now
The headline tension is clean: a watchdog wants more power while issuers want fewer banking constraints. Whichever way the Commission leans will set the cost of doing crypto business in Europe for years.
For any firm whose product touches EU users, this is the window to pay attention. Rules written in 2023 and 2024 are being rewritten right now, and the submissions on the table will shape the final text.
Our advice: treat the review as a strategic input, not legal background noise. If stablecoin reserve rules or derivatives classification affect your model, the time to understand the proposals — and, where possible, to contribute to the consultation — is before the rules harden, not after.
Quick FAQ
What is the MiCA review?
It is the European Union's formal reopening of its Markets in Crypto-Assets rulebook, during which regulators and industry submit recommendations to the European Commission on how the regime should change.
What does Circle want changed in MiCA?
Circle asked to replace MiCA's fixed bank-deposit reserve thresholds with liquidity-based rules and to loosen sovereign-exposure and banking-counterparty limits, citing risks exposed by the 2023 SVB collapse.
What is ESMA asking for?
Stronger supervisory powers, tighter marketing standards, clearer treatment of non-compliant stablecoins, and explicit rules for staking, lending and borrowing.
The most important crypto rules in Europe are being rewritten right now, in submissions most businesses will never read. If your product touches EU users, this review is not background legal noise — it's the moment the cost of operating here gets decided. Watch it like it matters, because it does. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Europe's crypto rules written in 2023 and 2024 are being rewritten now, so if you touch EU users, this review is the window to watch.
Do you know how the MiCA review's proposed changes would hit your product, or are you waiting to find out once the rules are final?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: The Block, crypto.news, Bitcoin.com.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
