French Authorities Challenge ECB Stance on Stablecoin Rewards

Four French financial authorities have urged the European Commission to allow certain third-party stablecoin rewards under regulated conditions, challenging the broader prohibition advocated by European central banks. The proposal forms part of their joint response to the review of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, known as MiCA.

The French Treasury, financial markets regulator AMF, Banque de France and prudential supervisor ACPR published their joint proposals in October 2026. Their wider submission calls for a framework that supports financial innovation and European competitiveness while protecting investors, financial stability and the EU’s monetary sovereignty.

The disagreement concerns indirect rewards, not a blanket endorsement of interest-bearing stablecoins. The French authorities continue to support prohibiting issuers from paying interest, but argue that remuneration provided by third parties should be regulated rather than banned outright.

Their proposed safeguards include clear disclosure, no guaranteed returns and no promotion of the arrangements as savings products. They also want monitoring of the impact on bank deposits, with conditions established in EU legislation and further specified by the European Banking Authority.

The European System of Central Banks takes a stricter position in its September 2026 consultation response. It argues that the prohibition on stablecoin remuneration should remain and, where necessary, be strengthened to cover both direct payments and indirect benefits that could circumvent existing restrictions.

The central banks specifically identify some loyalty-programme benefits and incentives embedded in decentralised finance as potential indirect remuneration. They also want restrictions to address borrowing, lending and staking arrangements, rather than applying only when crypto-asset service providers perform activities already governed by MiCA.

Their reasoning rests partly on the legal treatment of electronic money tokens, a category of stablecoins. The central banks say electronic money is intended for payments rather than saving, and argue that maintaining the remuneration ban protects consistent treatment across the financial system.

The competing submissions therefore present different approaches to supervising rewards offered through intermediaries. France favours a conditional route for such arrangements, while the central banks place greater emphasis on preventing structures that reproduce interest payments through additional services or layered products.

The debate sits within a broader French effort to support euro-denominated stablecoins and tokenised bank deposits, particularly for cross-border payments and tokenised finance. That support comes alongside proposals for stronger supervision and an explicit prohibition on EU-authorised providers offering services involving stablecoins that fail to meet MiCA requirements.

MiCA began applying progressively in 2024, and the Commission’s review consultation ran from May 20 to September 30, 2026, according to the French Treasury. The submissions are proposals, not an adopted change to the rules. The review now provides the forum for deciding whether a regulated exception for third-party rewards can coexist with the restrictions central banks want preserved.