Does anyone even still remember August? A busy back-to-school September reconnected us through digital asset events and major policy announcements.
In Copenhagen for Eurofi
Less known in the digital assets industry, Eurofi is the major EU policy forum, held biannually in the seat of the Presidency of the EU Council. In H2 2025, that was Copenhagen.
Crypto policy issues shaping Eurofi discussions took center stage following an open letter by the French, Italian, and Austrian regulators published just in time for the Forum. The signatories:
- called for single supervision on crypto intermediaries in the EU;
- raised concerns with unregulated connectivity between EU exchanges and global liquidity pools, and;
- pointed out a gap in the industry’s cybersecurity.
These concerns, together with the treatment of stablecoins issued in and outside the EU, have grown to motivate speculations of re-opening MiCA for revision sooner than most expected.
From a Fireblocks perspective, perhaps more worrisome than any of these is the EU refrain that resilience is best achieved through on-shoring data and domiciling capabilities. To us, this just means creating single points of failure – precisely what decentralization was meant to avoid.
Seoul, Sydney, and Stablecoins
A few days after, Korea Blockchain Week brought Seoul to a standstill. The political push for won-backed stablecoins was abundantly clear. Consolidated draft legislation is expected by November, with implementation planned for H1 2026. With these, Korea joins its peers in APAC in trying to counterbalance the hyper-dollarization of its market with local-currency stablecoins.
For such a stablecoin to gain traction, it must also create new revenue opportunities for banks, most likely by recapturing foreign exchange fees and enabling access to tokenized sovereign debt and repo markets.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities began consulting on a licensing regime for digital assets intermediation, bringing long-awaited clarity to the market.
Sibos in Frankfurt
The Fireblocks team had, by some measure, a 300% YoY increase in institutional engagement during this year’s Sibos.
From a policy perspective, the speech of Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller stood out. He urged central bankers not to fear technological innovation, to welcome competition and consumer choice, and to recognize that stablecoins are the digital equivalent of today’s e-money.
These are not trivial statements. They contrast deeply with statements made by the Bank of England’s Governor Andrew Bailey. That said, the sentiment in London is shifting. We understand both the Treasury and the Prime Minister’s Office in the UK are more keen on a stablecoin-enabled economy. It is even possible that HM Treasury recategorizes stablecoins into payments assets in the final version of its legislation, expected before year-end.
Token 2049 in Singapore
Last but not least, Token 2049 posed the question: who has a greater need for speed, F1 fans or payment firms enabling cross-border stablecoin transactions?
Terrible pun aside, the annual Singaporean gathering allowed us to discuss with clients some of the very recent APAC policy changes:
- Vietnam opened a five-year regulatory sandbox to onshore all crypto intermediation through five selected exchanges;
- Thailand allowed a linkage from stablecoin payments to the country’s PromptPay;
- Taiwan pre-approved nine out of the 12 submissions for VASP licenses;
- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reported receiving 77 applications for stablecoin licenses from banks, tech companies, securities firms, and payment providers.
The Year Ahead
From Copenhagen to Seoul, Frankfurt to Singapore, September underscored just how synchronized the global regulatory agenda around digital assets has become. The U.S. policy shift earlier this year continues to reverberate across regions, forcing governments to reconcile national interests with the realities of global stablecoin infrastructure.
Eleven weeks to go in 2025, and stablecoins are no longer the future tense of finance. They are the framework everyone else has to keep up with.
