UniCredit deputy vice chair Elena Carletti has issued a stark warning about Europe's preparedness for a potential crypto banking crisis. According to reports from UniCredit, Carletti stated at an IESE Business School conference in Madrid that EU tools are weaker than the US emergency response of 2023 when regulators guaranteed all deposits at failed banks. The Italian bank executive emphasized that the same systemic-risk exception used to guarantee all SVB and Signature deposits cannot be easily taken in Europe.
The warning comes as MiCA pushes stablecoin issuers closer to banks, requiring them to hold reserves in liquid assets including bank deposits and government securities. As reported by UniCredit, this link became visible during the March 2023 SVB collapse, when Circle, issuer of USDC, disclosed $3.3 billion of reserves stuck at the failed bank. Carletti explained that the coverage and protection given to all deposits, including stablecoin companies, allowed maintenance of stablecoin stability. However, EU deposit insurance, capped at €100,000, cannot absorb stress from large stablecoin reserve accounts the same way.
Despite the warnings, European banks continue expanding into stablecoin operations. According to UniCredit, the bank is a founding member of Qivalis, the consortium planning a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin for launch in the second half of 2026. Italy's Banca Sella, another Qivalis founder, recently won Bank of Italy approval to offer crypto custody and transfer services under MiCA's notification route for credit institutions. The full MiCA rollout tightens supervision of CASPs, stablecoin issuers and DeFi front-ends by July 2026.
The concerns echo those previously raised by Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, who has argued that MiCA's 60% uninsured cash reserve requirement could itself trigger systemic risk. As reported by UniCredit, Carletti's warning highlights the 'double weakness' created by MiCA's requirements, which tie stablecoin stability directly to bank balance sheets while European deposit insurance provides significantly less protection than US alternatives.
