UniCredit warns Europe may struggle to contain crypto-bank crisis under MiCA rules EU deposit insurance (up to €100,000) may not absorb stress from large stablecoin reserve accounts, unlike the full protection offered by U.S. regulators.
What to know: – Europe lacks crisis tools used by the U.S. to contain crypto-bank shocks, raising concerns about its ability to handle future financial turmoil. – EU deposit insurance (up to €100,000) may not absorb stress from large stablecoin reserve accounts, unlike the full protection offered by U.S. regulators. – MiCA forces stablecoin providers to align with banks, but without extended deposit insurance, creating a “double weakness” in the European financial system
Europe may struggle to contain a financial shock tied to crypto firms and banks because its crisis tools are more limited than those used in the U.S. during the 2023 banking turmoil, a senior official with European bank UniCredit said Thursday. Elena Carletti, UniCredit’s deputy vice chair and head of the board’s risk committee, said European authorities may not be able to guarantee crypto-linked deposits in the same way U.S. regulators did after the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, Reuters reported. Speaking at a banking conference hosted by Madrid’s IESE Business School, Carletti said the U.S. decision to protect all deposits, including funds held by stablecoin issuers, helped stabilize crypto markets during the crisis. “The same decision cannot be easily taken in Europe,” Carletti said.
The comments come as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA, pushes stablecoin issuers closer to traditional banks. The rules require certain stablecoin reserves to be held in liquid assets such as bank deposits and government securities. That link could have become a problem during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in March 2023.