EU finance ministers call for restrictions on stablecoin issuers

Finance ministers from major European Union members are calling for the bloc's executive arm to put in place significant curbs on stablecoins and their issuers. 

According to Reuters, officials from France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy issued the call on the first day of an EU event being hosted in Berlin this weekend. Reuters wrote that German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has argued that stablecoins should not be allowed to operate in the bloc unless they adhere to regulatory requirements.

“The central bank, I mean the ECB, is the only one to be allowed to issue a currency. And this point, it’s something that cannot be jeopardized or weakened by any kind of project including the so-called Libra project,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was quoted as saying.

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A recent report from Euractiv shined a possible light on what those measures might look like — at least in the draft stage. On Thursday, citing leaked draft documents, the outlet reported that a supervisory group comprised of "national and European authorities" would be created to oversee cryptocurrency-related activities in the European Union.

The outlet said that so-called "significant" forms of e-money would be regulated under the auspices of the European Banking Authority and would be subject to its rules. Still, the supervisory body would comprise one part of a broader oversight framework involving financial authorities at the state and EU level.