Binance has discontinued spot trading pairs with Tether’s USDt in the European Economic Area (EEA) to comply with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has delisted spot trading pairs with several non-MiCA-compliant tokens in the EEA in line with a plan disclosed in early March, Cointelegraph has learned.

While spot trading pairs in tokens such as USDt (USDT) are now delisted on Binance, users in the EEA can still custody the affected tokens and trade them in perpetual contracts.

According to a previous announcement by Binance, the spot trading pairs for non-MiCA-compliant tokens were to be delisted by March 31, which is in line with a local requirement to delist such tokens by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

Delistings on other exchanges in EEA

Binance is not the only crypto exchange delisting non-MiCA-compliant tokens for spot trading in the EEA.

Other exchanges, such as Kraken, have delisted spot trading pairs in tokens such as USDT in the EEA after announcing plans in February.

According to a notice on the Kraken website, the exchange restricted USDT for sell-only mode in the EEA on March 24. At the time of writing, the platform doesn’t allow its EEA users to buy the affected tokens.

Among other non-MiCA-compliant tokens, Binance has also delisted spot trading pairs for Dai (DAI), First Digital USD (FDUSD), TrueUSD (TUSD), Pax Dollar (USDP), Anchored Euro (AEUR), TerraUSD (UST), TerraClassicUSD (USTC) and PAX Gold (PAXG).

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Kraken’s delisting roadmap in the EEA only included five tokens: USDT, PayPal USD (PYUSD), Tether EURt (EURT), TrueUSD and TerraClassicUSD.

ESMA doesn’t prohibit custody of non-MiCA-compliant tokens

Binance and Kraken’s move to maintain custody services for non-MiCA-compliant tokens aligns with a previous communication from MiCA compliance supervisors.

On March 5, a spokesperson for the ESMA told Cointelegraph that custody and transfer services for non-MiCA-compliant stablecoins do not violate the new European cryptocurrency laws. 

On the other hand, the same regulator previously advised European crypto asset service providers to halt all transactions involving the affected tokens after March 31, adding a certain extent of confusion over MiCA requirements.

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Vanuatu has passed laws to regulate digital assets and provide a licensing regime for crypto companies wanting to operate in the Pacific island nation, which a government regulatory consultant has called “very stringent.” 

The local parliament passed the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act on March 26, giving crypto licensing authority to the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC) along with powers to enforce the Financial Action Task Force’s Anti-Money Laundering, Counter-Terrorism Financing and Travel Rule standards with crypto firms.

The VFSC has sweeping investigation and enforcement powers under the laws, with penalties stipulating fines of up to 250 million vatu ($2 million) and up to 30 years in prison.

“God help any scammer that goes into Vanuatu because you’ll go to jail,” Loretta Joseph, who consulted with the regulator on the laws, told Cointelegraph. “The laws are very stringent.”

“The thing is, we don’t want another FTX debacle,” she added, referring to the once Bahamas-based crypto exchange that collapsed in 2022 due to massive fraud committed by its co-founders, Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, along with other executives.

“Vanuatu is a small jurisdiction. Small jurisdictions are preyed on by the players that are looking for no regulation or light touch regulation,” Joseph said. “This is certainly not that.”

“I’m so proud of them to be the first country in the Pacific to actually take a position and do this,” she added. 

New Vanuatu law regulates slate of crypto companies

The law establishes a licensing and reporting framework for exchanges, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces, crypto custody providers and initial coin offerings.

The VFSC said that the legislation doesn’t affect stablecoins, tokenized securities, and central bank digital currencies even though they “may in practice share some similarities with virtual assets.”

The legislation also allows for the VFSC’s commissioner to create a sandbox to allow approved companies to offer a variety of crypto services for a year, which can be renewed.

Related: Australia outlines crypto regulation plan, promises action on debanking

Joseph said Vanuatu “needed a standalone piece of legislation” that covered Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terror Financing requirements, as the country didn’t have existing laws suited to virtual assets.

The regulator said in a March 29 statement that it had developed the legislative framework after years of “assessing the risks associated with virtual assets,” and the laws would open “numerous opportunities for Vanuatu” and improve financial inclusion by allowing regulated services for crypto cross-border payments.

VFSC Commissioner Branan Karae had said in June that the bill was expected to pass that September, but Joseph said the legislation was “not something that was done lightly.” It had been in development since 2020 and was delayed due to changes in government, natural disasters and COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions.

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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is calling for legislative changes in the US to allow stablecoin holders to earn “onchain interest” on their holdings.

In a March 31 post on X, Armstrong argued that crypto companies should be treated similarly to banks and be “allowed to, and incentivized to, share interest with consumers.” He added that allowing onchain interest would be “consistent with a free market approach.”

There are currently two competing pieces of federal stablecoin legislation working their way through the legislative process in the US: the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy (STABLE) Act, and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

In reference to the stablecoin legislation, Armstrong said the US had an opportunity to “level the playing field and ensure these laws pave a way for all regulated stablecoins to deliver interest directly to consumers, the same way a savings or checking account can.” 

Armstrong: Onchain interest a boon for US economy

Armstrong argued that while stablecoins have already found product-market fit by “digitizing the dollar and other fiat currencies,” the addition of onchain interest would allow “the average person, and the US economy, to reap the full benefits.”

He said that if legislative changes allowed stablecoin issuers to pay interest to holders, US consumers could earn a yield of around 4% on their holdings, far outstripping the 2024 average interest yield on a consumer savings account, which Armstrong cited as 0.41%.

Armstrong also said onchain interest could benefit the broader US economy — by incentivizing the global use of US dollar stablecoins. This could see their use grow, “pulling dollars back to U.S. treasuries and extending dollar dominance in an increasingly digital global economy,” according to the Coinbase CEO. 

He also argued that the potential for a higher yield than traditional savings accounts would result in “more yield in consumers’ hands means more spending, saving, investing — fueling economic growth in all local economies where stablecoins are held.”

“If we don’t unlock onchain interest, the U.S. misses out on billions more USD users and trillions in potential cash flows,” Armstrong added.

Currently, neither the STABLE Act nor the GENIUS Act gives the legal go-ahead for onchain interest-generating stablecoins. In fact, in its current form, the STABLE Act includes a short passage prohibiting “payment stablecoin” issuers from paying yield to holders:

Related: Stablecoins, tokenized assets gain as Trump tariffs loom

Similarly, the GENIUS Act, which recently passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 18-6, has been amended to exclude interest-bearing instruments from its definition of a “payment stablecoin.”

Commenting on the current state of the STABLE Act, Representative Bryan Steil told Eleanor Terrett, host of the Crypto in America podcast, that two pieces of legislation are positioned to “mirror up” following a few more draft rounds in the House and Senate — due to the differences between them being textual rather than substantive.

“At the end of the day, I think there’s recognition that we want to work with our Senate colleagues to get this across the line,” Steil said.

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