Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi HTX ranked among the top three exchanges in terms of euro-stablecoin trading volume in a recent CoinDesk report titled MiCAR: An Institutional Guide to European Digital Asset Markets . The report explores the main trends shaping the European digital asset market by analyzing the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). According to the report, Huobi HTXs average monthly euro-stablecoin trading volume is as high as 48 million euros, of which 33 million euros were traded in November 2024, ranking third, behind Binance and Coinbase.
The surge in Euro-led trading volumes coincides with a changing regulatory landscape where regulatory clarity has become a key driver of institutional participation and market confidence. The full implementation of MiCAR is a major milestone for the cryptocurrency industry, providing a unified regulatory framework across the 27 EU member states. While simplifying compliance and fostering innovation, MiCAR also presents complex challenges that exchanges must face. HTX Ventures further explores the unprecedented opportunities and challenges presented by this landmark regulation.
Alec Goh, Head of Business at HTX Ventures, said: The implementation of MiCAR is an important step in the right direction for the cryptocurrency industry. It not only provides the industry with much-needed regulatory clarity, but also creates an environment conducive to institutional participation. As countries around the world become more friendly to crypto-related policies and regulations, a unified framework like MiCAR will accelerate innovation while ensuring robust compliance. HTX Ventures sees this as an opportunity to promote the development of on-chain compliance tools, support the development of compliant DeFi solutions, and bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets.
opportunity
Unified supervision reduces costs and improves market confidence
MiCAR covers all 27 EU member states through a single license, which greatly reduces the cost of cross-border compliance for exchanges. This unified regulatory framework provides a clear and stable regulatory environment for the market, helps to enhance the confidence and participation of institutional investors, and promotes Europe to become the worlds largest compliant digital asset market.
Technological innovation promotes the implementation of on-chain compliance tools
In order to adapt to MiCARs strict anti-money laundering (AML) and reserve monitoring requirements, exchanges can actively explore innovations in compliance tools:
Use oracles to modularize AML rules and reserve monitoring, and execute them on-chain to ensure real-time and transparent data;
Adopt zk-SNARKs to build an on-chain regulatory data platform to desensitize transaction data and upload it to the chain, which not only meets regulatory transparency but also protects user privacy;
Use account abstraction technology (ERC-4337) to integrate the KYC process into non-custodial wallets, lowering the threshold for traditional financial institutions to access DeFi.
New opportunities for the integration of real assets and crypto assets
With the launch of securitized tokens by platforms such as Coinbase, exchanges can introduce real-world asset (RWA) transactions, such as yield-generating stablecoins based on U.S. stocks or U.S. Treasury bonds, allowing users to use assets such as USDT to achieve multi-asset allocation and global liquidity docking.
challenge
The cost and technical complexity of strict compliance requirements
MiCAR imposes strict requirements on stablecoin issuers and crypto asset service providers (CASPs), such as adequate reserves, regular audits, and anti-money laundering. Exchanges must invest huge RD and operation and maintenance costs in technical integration of oracles, data desensitization, and on-chain regulatory data middle platforms to ensure that the system meets regulatory requirements without affecting market fluency.
Uncertainty in a dynamic policy environment
As regulatory policies evolve rapidly, exchanges need to establish a multi-chain dynamic testing environment in advance and cooperate with regulatory-friendly regions (such as Lithuania and Malta) to conduct cross-border stress testing and regulatory scenario simulations. This forward-looking deployment requires continuous investment and there are risks in policy interpretation and execution.
Security risks and stringent requirements of the hosting system
Affected by the bankruptcy of FTX and the Bybit security incident, the market has become more stringent in regulating security and compliance. MiCAR clarifies the responsibilities of digital asset custody and requires custodians to implement bank-level security measures to prevent hacker attacks and asset loss. In the process of integrating DeFi with the traditional regulatory system, exchanges need to deal with the challenges of technical vulnerabilities and security risks at the same time.
HTX Ventures firmly believes that under a clearer regulatory framework like MiCAR, cryptocurrency exchanges can find a balance between compliance and market innovation through technological innovation and global asset layout, creating a win-win situation. Looking ahead, HTX Ventures will give full play to its professional insights, actively explore on-chain compliance tools, expand real-world asset transactions, and build a dynamic testing environment to cope with complex regulatory challenges and ensure that cryptocurrency innovation drives long-term institutional participation and market sustainability.
About HTX Ventures
HTX Ventures is the global investment arm of Huobi HTX, integrating investment, incubation and research to identify the best and brightest teams in the world. As an industry pioneer, HTX Ventures has more than 11 years of experience in blockchain construction and excels in identifying cutting-edge technologies and emerging business models in the field. In order to drive growth within the blockchain ecosystem, we provide comprehensive support to projects, including financing, resources and strategic advice.
HTX Ventures currently supports more than 300 projects covering multiple blockchain fields, and some high-quality projects have been traded on Huobi HTX. In addition, as one of the most active FOF funds, HTX Ventures has invested in 30 top funds in the world and cooperated with top global blockchain funds such as Polychain, Dragonfly, Bankless, Gitcoin, Figment, Nomad, Animoca and Hack VC to jointly build a blockchain ecosystem. Visit us .
If you need investment and cooperation, please feel free to contact VC@htx-inc.com
About Huobi HTX
Huobi HTX was founded in 2013. After 11 years of development, it has grown from a cryptocurrency exchange to a comprehensive blockchain business ecosystem, covering digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investment, incubation and other businesses. As the worlds leading Web3 portal, Huobi HTX adheres to the development strategy of global expansion, ecological prosperity, wealth effect, safety and compliance, and provides comprehensive, safe and reliable value and services to the worlds virtual currency enthusiasts.
For more information about HTX, please visit HTX Square or https://www.htx.com/ and follow us on X , Telegram and Discord . For further questions, please contact glo-media@htx-inc.com .
