The total market capitalization of Euro stablecoins has surpassed $400 million, with growth of over 170% since the beginning of this year. This increase is mainly driven by regulatory support from the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and market diversification demands, indicating that the Euro crypto ecosystem is undergoing a profound liquidity reshaping.
(Background: France’s Paris Bank and 10 European banks are launching Qivalis Euro stablecoins, planning to go live in the second half of 2026)
(Additional context: Deutsche Bank’s “EURAU” Euro stablecoin launched: certified by MiCA and German authorities, will Europe’s payment landscape be rewritten?)

Table of Contents

• Providing compliant entry tickets, regulatory certainty as a growth driver
• From risk hedging to arbitrage allocation, another catalyst for scale growth
• Multi-chain deployment and application strategies jointly attacking, EURC accounts for 70% market share
• Traditional banks enter the scene, CBDC also eyeing the prize

Amid a global stablecoin landscape exceeding $300 billion, dominated by USD assets with a 99% share, a non-mainstream category is quietly making a comeback.

Dune data shows that the total market cap of Euro stablecoins recently broke through $400 million, with a growth rate of over 170% since the start of the year.

In the face of the massive volume of USD stablecoins, although Euro stablecoins only account for 0.14% of the global market, this force should not be underestimated. Under the increasingly stringent requirements of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) and tightening regulatory walls, this countertrend surge indicates that the Euro crypto ecosystem is experiencing a deep liquidity reshaping.

A silent Euro on-chain war may have already begun, perhaps marking a turning point for Euro stablecoins from the fringe to the mainstream market.

Providing compliant entry tickets, regulatory certainty as a growth driver

The most puzzling aspect of the countertrend growth of Euro stablecoins is the regulatory pressure behind it. From a traditional finance perspective, strict regulation usually implies limited market vitality. However, market logic often defies intuition: harsh rules can eliminate uncertainties for capital entry.

After the collapses of FTX and Terra, global capital fears of unlicensed assets far outweigh resistance to strict regulation. Although MiCA sets thresholds, it also provides compliant entry tickets for large financial institutions and stablecoin issuers.

Before the full implementation of MiCA, the Euro stablecoin market was fragmented with inconsistent rules across member states. In June 2024, MiCA’s provisions on stablecoins will officially take effect, requiring issuers to obtain licenses from EU member states’ electronic money institutions or credit institutions.

In essence, this high entry barrier acts as a gatekeeper. Under the MiCA framework, non-compliant stablecoins that do not meet 100% reserves, monthly third-party audits, and full redemption requirements must exit the European market.

Suddenly, the market was in turmoil, and stablecoin giants like Tether had to withdraw from Europe. The significant supply-side cleanup left a large vacuum for compliant issuers like Circle. Dune data shows that within 18 months of MiCA’s implementation, the monthly trading volume of major Euro stablecoins surged from $197 million to $3.1 billion, an increase of approximately 15.74 times.

More importantly, MiCA introduced a “passport” mechanism, allowing any issuer licensed in one member state to operate across the EU. For leading European CEXs (centralized exchanges) like Bitstamp and Bitpanda and crypto asset service providers (CASPs), delisting non-compliant USDT trading pairs and shifting to MiCA-compliant Euro stablecoins (such as EURC) is not only a regulatory requirement but also a necessary move to avoid potential sanctions. Clearly, regulation has shifted from optional to essential for survival, directly fueling the real growth of Euro stablecoins.

From risk hedging to arbitrage allocation, another catalyst for scale growth

Exchange rate appreciation is another hidden pillar supporting the growth of Euro stablecoins. Between late 2024 and 2025, the repeated US inflation expectations and the resilience shown by macroeconomic data in the Eurozone form the underlying logic for Euro appreciation against the US dollar.

For crypto investors, holding Euro stablecoins not only meets on-chain hedging needs but also serves as a means for forex arbitrage and diversification.

When the Euro appreciates against the dollar, prudent capital typically shifts into Euro-denominated assets to hedge against dollar weakness. Investors holding Euro stablecoins can, without changing their asset value, gain additional fiat purchasing power. For European investors, especially those needing cross-currency risk hedging, converting idle USD stablecoins into Euro stablecoins can hedge against single-currency risk and capture positive exchange rate movements.

In this macro cycle, due to positive exchange rate expectations, the holding cost of Euro stablecoins is actually lower than that of USD stablecoins. This arbitrage behavior has invisibly boosted the scale of Euro stablecoins, creating a wave of passive capital inflow.

Additionally, global concerns over over-reliance on USD settlement systems have further intensified this year. Especially with changes in US tariffs and geopolitical tensions, some international trade entities are seeking alternatives. As the world’s second-largest reserve currency, the digital Euro—Euro stablecoins—has become the preferred on-chain cross-border settlement option for non-US entities.

Chainalysis data shows that after April this year, following the implementation of US tariff policies, there has been a significant shift from USD to EUR valuation in the market. During this phase, EURC trading volume surged far beyond USDC, reflecting a strong market demand for diversified foreign exchange reserves.

Multi-chain deployment and application strategies jointly attacking, EURC accounts for 70% market share

Within the Euro stablecoin market of $400 million, Circle once again demonstrates its dominance as a compliant giant.

Dune data shows that the supply of Circle’s EURC has approached $300 million, accounting for about 70% of the market share, making it the main driver of the overall Euro stablecoin growth.

Circle’s key advantage lies in its proactive early deployment. Before MiCA’s implementation, Circle obtained an electronic money institution license in France, under the supervision of French prudential regulators and clearing agencies. This made it the first mainstream player to be “licensed and operational” after MiCA took effect.

The transparency of EURC reserves is the cornerstone of user trust. According to its public audit reports, EURC’s reserve management adheres to the highest standards aligned with the MiCA framework.

However, compliance is just an entry ticket; capturing market share requires an ecosystem. EURC is not limited to the Ethereum mainnet but has launched multi-chain expansion strategies.

Ethereum: The main venue for large institutional settlements, carrying about 60% of the circulation.

Base: Leveraging Coinbase’s large retail user base, EURC’s application on Base chain has rapidly expanded into small payments and daily social consumption.

Solana: With extremely high TPS and low fees, it has become the preferred platform for high-frequency forex trading and arbitrage.

Stellar: Deep integration with payment giants like Visa and Wirex enables EURC to achieve 24/7 real-time settlement, optimizing cross-border remittance costs.

The real breakthrough may occur in application scenarios. On December 12, EURC announced integration into the World App, which has 37 million users, potentially injecting huge retail momentum, allowing users to send EURC directly within chat applications.

As a market leader, EURC’s expansion has directly driven a qualitative change in the overall scale of Euro stablecoins. As liquidity accumulates beyond a certain threshold, EURC is transitioning from a store-of-value tool to a payment medium. Today, Visa is using EURC for settlement on the Stellar network, possibly marking the official entry of Euro stablecoins into mainstream financial infrastructure.

Traditional banks enter the scene, CBDC also eyeing the prize

Circle is not resting easy. As the market grows, traditional financial giants are beginning to compete. SG-FORGE, a subsidiary of Société Générale, issued EURCV, a typical example.

Unlike EURC’s Web3 DNA, EURCV is infused with pure banking blood. Its initial purpose was to provide compliant on-chain cash tools for tokenized securities and retail payments. Payment giant DECTA released a report indicating that EURCV’s trading volume grew by 343.26% in 2025, mainly due to its adoption in European institutional-grade repos and bond tokenization settlements.

Compared to EURC, EURCV’s credit backing comes directly from top-tier commercial banks, which is a significant advantage in traditional financial scenarios that are highly sensitive to counterparty risk.

Besides Société Générale, other European banks like Banco Santander are also experimenting with stablecoins this year. These “silver-haired stablecoins,” backed by large bank deposits, may unleash strong on-chain migration capabilities at a future critical moment.

Above all market participants, the shadow of public sector pressure looms. The European Central Bank’s push for digital euro (CBDC) remains the biggest uncertainty facing private Euro stablecoins.

ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone emphasized: “To maintain European monetary sovereignty, a public digital cash must be issued.” Yesterday (December 18), ECB President Christine Lagarde also stated: “The ECB has completed preparations for the digital euro; it only awaits political action.”

Compared to Euro stablecoins, CBDC has inherent advantages in legal status, holding limits, and infrastructure access. If CBDC can offer higher user convenience and zero-cost structures in the future, it could directly challenge existing Euro stablecoins.

The ECB’s deeper concern lies in financial stability, always questioning whether stablecoins could trigger bank runs. According to ECB analysis, if large retail deposits convert into Euro stablecoins, it might weaken traditional banks’ lending capacity. Meanwhile, since stablecoin reserves are stored in banks, a wave of on-chain redemptions could cause sudden liquidity pressures on the banking system.

To prevent this risk, MiCA will impose stricter regulations on Euro stablecoins, requiring their reserves to be increased to 60% of deposits. These ongoing compliance costs may limit the future expansion of Euro stablecoins.

This also presents a fundamental contradiction: Euro stablecoins thrive under a regulated framework, yet their regulators are actively planning a CBDC that could replace them. This “government vs. market” competition will be the biggest variable for Euro stablecoins in the coming years.

The rapid growth of Euro stablecoins may foreshadow a long-term trend: as regulation settles, global investors will no longer be satisfied solely with USD stablecoins, and the ecosystem for Euro stablecoins is rapidly filling in.

Meanwhile, with the further tokenization of RWA (real-world assets) and cross-border settlement demands, Euro stablecoins may be on the verge of large-scale adoption. This Europe-led game has only just begun.