More than 50,000 Europeans submitted comments to the EU’s MiCA review after a Stand With Crypto EU campaign asking regulators to allow regulated stablecoins to offer consumer rewards such as cashback, loyalty perks and fee reductions under clear rules. The campaign’s responses far outnumbered the 8,221 replies to the ECB’s digital euro consultation and the 198 responses to the EU’s 2020 crypto consultation; a related petition collected over 126,000 signatures.
The core legal issue is MiCA’s existing prohibition on issuers and crypto service providers paying interest or equivalent remuneration on stablecoins. Stand With Crypto EU argues permitting rewards would help euro-denominated stablecoins compete with dollar alternatives and support adoption. By contrast, the European System of Central Banks proposed on Sept. 22 extending the ban to indirect yield-generating arrangements such as lending, borrowing and staking, and replacing reserve-deposit minimums with liquidity thresholds to address potential runs and settlement mismatches. The MiCA consultation closed on Sept. 30, leaving regulators to weigh competing policy priorities on financial stability and innovation.