The market capitalization of Tether (USDT), a United States dollar-pegged stablecoin, is currently over $65 billion. USD Coin (USDC), another stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar, clocks in near $55 billion. Some reports estimate that the total market cap of dollar-backed stablecoins is over $160 billion.
Despite this success of dollar-based stablecoins, there has not been a euro stablecoin that is even remotely comparable in size. By the end of June, the U.S.-based company Circle announced that it will launch its own euro stablecoin, Euro Coin (EUROC), on the Ethereum blockchain. With a euro-based stablecoin, uncomplicated euro transfers will be possible worldwide in the future, as is currently the case with the U.S. dollar.
Instead of the eurozone-based business, Circle has opted to issue the planned euro stablecoin via the U.S. bank Silvergate. But, is it permissible for a digital coin tied to the euro to be issued outside the eurozone? How will European regulators react? Can Circle simply ignore the upcoming Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and operate the stablecoin from outside the European Union? And, why is there still no major euro stablecoin?
Cointelegraph auf Deutsch asked these questions to Patrick Hansen. The former head of blockchain at the German digital association Bitkom was, until recently, head of strategy and business development at wallet provider Unstoppable Finance. Now Hansen advises companies such as Presight Capital and the Blockchain Founders Group and has a hotline to the European Parliament.
Euro stablecoin issued outside the EU
The European Central Bank (ECB) is keeping its options open on whether and when to launch a digital euro. However, it’s still not really clear to Patrick Hansen what exactly the ECB wants to achieve with a central bank-issued digital euro. “Whether it is to become a kind of digital cash or rather a new payment option. That’s why it’s so difficult to evaluate the project,” he said.
Fundamentally, though, Hansen thinks that private companies, led and overseen by policymakers, are better suited to bring innovation to the current financial system. According to him, European banks will be much more active in the coming years: “Right now, I think two things, in particular, are holding them back. First, banks want to wait for MiCA regulation, and second, the ECB’s specific plans for a digital euro are still not clear.”
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