Abstract
Regulatory information has become increasingly relevant in cryptocurrency markets, but how such information is incorporated into market outcomes remains unclear. This paper examines the role of MiCA-specific attention in stablecoin market adjustment using the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) as an institutional setting. A MiCA-specific Regulatory Attention Index (MRAI) is constructed using Google Trends and Wikipedia page views. The empirical analysis combines regulatory milestone models, attention interaction models, lagged attention models, and dynamic adjustment analysis to examine the relationship between MiCA developments, regulatory attention, and stablecoin market changes. The results show that different MiCA regulatory stages are associated with different patterns of stablecoin market adjustment. The interaction between MiCA regulatory milestones and MRAI is positive and statistically significant, suggesting that regulatory developments are more strongly associated with market adjustment when MiCA-related attention is higher. The lagged attention analysis shows that regulatory attention contains information associated with subsequent stablecoin market adjustment.