France's Financial Regulators Propose Regulated Stablecoin Rewards in MiCA Revision

Four French Regulators Back Third-Party Rewards

France's four financial regulators have asked the European Commission to allow third-party stablecoin rewards under defined conditions, a position that puts Paris at odds with the euro area's central banks. In a joint response to the Commission's consultation on how to revise the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA), dated October 2, the French finance ministry, the markets regulator AMF, the Banque de France and the banking and insurance supervisor ACPR argue that rewards paid by crypto platforms and other third parties should be supervised rather than banned outright, since the practice will develop regardless. The paper points to the approach taken under the US GENIUS Act, which bars issuers from paying interest but leaves third-party rewards outside that prohibition. The four institutions contend that such indirect compensation lowers the cost of holding e-money tokens, the instruments known as EMTs, and supports financial services that operate around the clock. They also warn that a framework stricter than those of the EU's main competitors could weaken the standing of euro-denominated e-money tokens. On the third-party side, the dividing line is who pays: compensation tied to the holding and use of e-money tokens by a platform or service provider, rather than by the issuer, is treated as a separate regulatory object. One red line survives, since all four bodies agree that issuers must stay barred from paying interest or equivalent benefits simply because a holder keeps a stablecoin. Under Article 50 of MiCA, neither issuers such as Circle nor platforms, including exchanges, may pay interest for holding a stablecoin. For third-party rewards, the French authorities attach four conditions: platforms must disclose reward terms to holders, must not promise a guaranteed APY, must not market rewards as savings products, and supervisors should monitor the effect on bank deposits. They want these principles written into the regulation itself, with detailed technical requirements delegated to the European Banking Authority.

Central Banks Want a Wider Ban

The European System of Central Banks, which groups the European Central Bank with the EU member states' national central banks, wants the opposite. In its own consultation response submitted in September, the ESCB argues that MiCA's prohibition on paying yield to stablecoin holders should remain in force and be tightened rather than relaxed. The central banks would extend the ban to indirect benefits such as rewards, fee rebates and certain loyalty programs, and would push it beyond MiCA's current scope to cover crypto-asset lending and staking. Their position is that e-money exists for payments and should not become a savings vehicle. Here France splits from the ESCB on scope, not on principle: it accepts that the issuer interest ban stands, but its regulators do not want that prohibition to block work clarifying the rules for staking and for crypto lending and borrowing. They add the caveat that yield-bearing services must not become a channel for circumventing the issuer-level ban. The stakes extend past the regulators themselves. Commercial banks have fought reward mechanisms worldwide, warning that stablecoins could drain trillions from bank deposits, even as they build tokens of their own. HSBC has rolled out its first stablecoin to 3.3 million users in Hong Kong, and dozens of major European banks are developing a shared euro stablecoin through the Qivalis consortium. An industry advocacy group, meanwhile, reports that more than 50,000 EU citizens have emailed the Commission urging it to permit regulated rewards such as cashback, loyalty benefits and fee rebates. The Commission must now weigh these submissions and deliver its report to the EU legislature by June 30, 2027, when it may propose amendments.

The dispute is less about whether holders should earn anything than about who sets the rate. Third-party rewards function as a shadow interest rate on payment tokens, and the French supervisors would rather see that rate disclosed and monitored than pushed off the books. The ESCB's counterproposal, extending the ban to staking and lending, would reach well beyond stablecoins into the broader crypto yield economy, where delegated proof of stake networks and lending desks pay returns for locked capital. The fault line is an old one: bitcoin maximalism has long argued that yield instruments import regulated-banking risk without its protections. With the Commission's report due by mid-2027, the consultation record now being assembled will define the legislative options Brussels actually drafts.