# French Authorities Urge EU to Allow Conditional Stablecoin Rewards

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/41763
Published: 2026-10-27T13:34:03.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-27T13:34:03.000Z
Section: Regulation

> The proposal would require disclosures and monitoring of bank deposits. The European System of Central Banks wants the ban extended to indirect rewards and other yield.

Four French financial authorities are urging the European Union to allow some third-party stablecoin rewards under safeguards, setting their MiCA review position against a central-bank push for a wider ban.

The proposal concerns electronic money tokens (EMTs), a MiCA category of stablecoins tied to one official currency. Its coauthors are Direction générale du Trésor, Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Banque de France and Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR).

The authorities would permit indirect rewards, including payments from platforms or other third parties, returns from funds holding EMTs and returns linked to EMT settlement. The proposal would preserve the issuer-interest ban for EMTs and for asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) if that category remains.

The proposed safeguards include clear disclosures to token holders, no promise of guaranteed returns, no marketing as a savings product and monitoring for effects on bank deposits. They say the change could lower EMT holding costs, support around-the-clock financial services and improve the competitiveness of euro-denominated tokens. They want EU law to set the conditions, with the European Banking Authority (EBA) specifying them.

Under MiCA, EMT issuers and crypto-asset service providers cannot pay interest on the tokens. It also treats certain time-linked benefits as interest, including some third-party compensation and discounts. The French position is a consultation proposal and does not change the rules in force.

The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) wants the prohibition to cover indirect rewards, including some loyalty benefits and decentralized finance liquidity-mining incentives. The ESCB would also extend the ban to crypto borrowing, lending and staking, even where those services fall outside MiCA’s current scope. The ESCB argues that electronic money is intended for payments rather than saving.

The French authorities cite the U.S. GENIUS Act as a framework that bars issuer-paid interest without categorically prohibiting third-party rewards. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finalized implementing rules for the act on Oct. 21. Set to take effect Jan. 18, 2027, the rules leave whether some payments qualify as prohibited yield to a fact-specific assessment.

The European Commission closed its MiCA review consultation Sept. 30. It must issue a report by June 30, 2027, and may include a legislative proposal.