Regulation
Kraken denies plans to delist USDT in the EU
A Kraken the executive denied the exchange’s plans to delist Tether USDT stablecoins in Europe onwards May 18th.
Mark Greenberg, global head of growth and asset management, said the company is looking at “all options to offer USDT under the next regime.”
Greenberg added that the company would follow all legal requirements, including rules it opposes, and said the rules were not final.
The company’s plans to maintain its offerings go beyond USDT. Greenberg said:
“…We continue to do everything we can to continue offering all relevant stablecoins to our European customers.”
Greenberg did not name the regulations in question. However, the relevant regulatory regime is the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), which comes into force in July. MiCA requires issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins to register as electronic money institutions (EMIs) and meet other requirements.
Greenberg added that Kraken is working to relist some canceled coins in Germany. He did not specify the coins.
Previous statements
ON May 17th Bloomberg has suggested that Kraken may remove USDT from the EU based on statements from Marcus Hughes, Kraken’s global head of regulatory strategy.
In an interview, Hughes said the exchange may face circumstances where “it is not sustainable to list specific tokens like USDT” in the EU. He also warned that MiCA could more broadly reduce the number of stablecoins and types of stablecoins available in the region.
Shortly after Bloomberg’s report, The Block quoted a Kraken spokesperson who denied any plans to remove or alter USDT trading pairs. The spokesperson acknowledged, however, that the company “is constantly evaluating [its] global strategy and operations” for compliance.
USDT issuer Tether also told Bloomberg that it expects EU exchanges to maintain their USDT trading pairs despite the regulatory changes.
Another exchange, OKXhas USDT delisted in Europe but plans to continue listing USDC.