More than 50,000 Europeans filed submissions with the European Commission's MiCA review consultation, demanding that regulated stablecoins be permitted to offer rewards such as cashback and loyalty programs, according to figures released by the advocacy group organizing the campaign.

Stand With Crypto EU coordinated the letter-writing effort, which closed with the consultation's September 30, 2026 deadline. The group says a separate petition backing a broader pro-innovation stablecoin strategy has gathered more than 126,000 signatures — a level of engagement it characterizes as a sharp break from typically low participation in earlier EU crypto consultations.

Harry Pearce-Gould, general manager of Stand With Crypto EU, argued the volume of direct letters demonstrates that users understand in practical terms what the rewards restriction costs them. The campaign reframed what is normally a technical regulatory exercise into something closer to a public referendum on stablecoin consumer perks.

Central banks push the other way

The advocacy effort lands at an awkward moment for the Commission. On September 22, 2026, the European System of Central Banks — which includes the European Central Bank — submitted its own position to the review, calling for tighter restrictions rather than looser ones.

The central banks' proposal would extend MiCA's existing prohibition on interest or equivalent remuneration to cover indirect yield mechanisms as well. Under that reading, lending and staking arrangements tied to regulated tokens would fall under the ban, closing off the structuring routes issuers might otherwise use to deliver returns to holders.

The ECB's position rests on a functional view of electronic money: e-money should serve as a payment tool, not a savings product. From that standpoint, any return — direct or indirect — embedded in a regulated stablecoin conflicts with the instrument's intended role in the payments chain.

What the current rule says

The dispute centers on a provision already in force under MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. Current rules prohibit stablecoin issuers from paying interest or any equivalent remuneration on regulated tokens.

Stand With Crypto EU wants that boundary drawn so issuers can lawfully offer consumer-facing incentives such as cashback and loyalty rewards. The central banks want the opposite: certainty that no form of return reaches token holders through direct payments or indirect yield infrastructure.

Operational stakes

The outcome carries consequences beyond consumer perks. If the Commission adopts the central banks' broader prohibition, stablecoin issuers operating in the EU would face constraints on product design that competitors in other jurisdictions do not — a structural consideration for firms weighing where to base e-money token issuance under MiCA's passporting regime.

Conversely, an explicit carve-out for cashback and loyalty programs would give issuers a compliance-safe path to incentive mechanics that currently sit in a legal gray zone, since the framework does not clearly distinguish marketing rewards from remuneration.

The consultation record — more than 50,000 public submissions against a coordinated central bank push for stricter rules — now sits with the European Commission as it drafts its MiCA review. The direction the Commission takes on the remuneration clause will determine whether European stablecoin holders see any form of return on regulated tokens in the next amendment cycle.