As the July 1, 2026 deadline for full compliance with Europe's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation approaches, a massive structural shift is underway in the European crypto market. Major global exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, are proactively implementing trading restrictions on USDT (Tether) within Europe. This is because Tether has yet to obtain an official license compliant with MiCA regulatory standards.

As a result, crypto liquidity in Europe is rapidly shifting toward compliant alternative assets. In particular, USDC—a leading dollar-pegged stablecoin that has cleared the MiCA framework—and the euro-backed EURC are gaining market share, benefiting directly from this trend. With the long-standing dominance of USDT shrinking within the European region, a restructuring of exchange pair architectures and the overall trading environment appears inevitable.

This situation clearly demonstrates that regulatory compliance has become a critical variable determining the survival and market share of stablecoins. However, because the rapid shift in liquidity may lead to potential friction costs in the European market, such as wider spreads or temporary drops in trading volume, it is necessary to continuously monitor how smoothly the migration to compliant assets proceeds.