Here’s a thought that sounds obvious once you hear it: the countries that figured out how to let people send money via text message 18 years ago might be the best ones to regulate stablecoins today.
That’s the core argument Circle is making as it pushes for stablecoin regulation modeled on existing mobile money frameworks, particularly those battle-tested in emerging markets across Africa. The company’s position, outlined in its Internet Financial System Report, treats regulated stablecoins not as some novel financial experiment but as a natural evolution of electronic money systems that already serve billions of people.
The M-Pesa playbook
Kenya’s Safaricom launched M-Pesa back in March 2007, creating what was essentially a parallel banking system run through basic mobile phones. It transformed financial inclusion across East Africa, giving millions of unbanked people access to digital payments, savings, and transfers without ever stepping inside a bank branch.
The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework, which became effective in June 2024, classifies stablecoins as “electronic money tokens.” That places stablecoins within an existing regulatory category that European regulators already understand how to supervise.
