The proliferation of dollar-denominated stablecoins poses a risk to European monetary autonomy, and euro stablecoins are proposed as a regulated response. The global stablecoin market exceeded $292 billion by mid-2025, while euro-denominated tokens barely reach €500 million, according to the cited report.
The predominant issuance of dollar stablecoins —estimated at around 98% of the total— creates an external dependence that can influence ECB monetary policy. An event of massive redemptions in these assets could force adjustments to European policy, warned Olaf Sleijpen, and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), chaired by Christine Lagarde, has identified vulnerabilities in multi-issuer models.
Current dominance is concentrated: USDT (Tether) captures between 58% and 70% of the market with a capitalization above $155 billion; USDC (Circle) contributes another 16–20%, and together they account for more than 80% of the market. That network effect and the payment infrastructure dominated by non-European providers raise governance risks and exposure to extraterritorial regulatory changes.
European response: euro stablecoins, MiCA and the digital euro
The EU has oriented its strategy toward regulatory frameworks and public-private projects, with MiCA at the core. MiCA requires that euro stablecoins maintain a 1:1 exchange rate with the euro, be fully backed by liquid assets in segregated accounts and publish quarterly audits; it also prohibits algorithmic stablecoins, imposes a 30% reserve in very liquid assets and establishes a daily transaction limit of €200 million for E-Money Tokens. These rules aim to reduce risks and offer confidence to large users and institutions.
A consortium of nine European banks —including ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, Danske Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International— plans to launch a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The project will be managed from the Netherlands and supervised by the Dutch central bank, and aims to facilitate instant cross-border payments and supply chain financing.
The complementary public initiative is the digital euro project, with a potential deployment date in 2029, which seeks to guarantee a sovereign layer of digital money and reduce dependence on private providers such as Visa or PayPal. However, there are criticisms about the timeline: Gísli Kristjánsson, CEO of Monerium, noted that a 2029 launch “could be too late” to counter the current adoption dynamic. In addition, analysts such as Frederik Gregaard warn that strict regulation could limit liquidity or divert capital to more permissive jurisdictions.
Europe articulates a combined response: strict regulation (MiCA), bank-issued stablecoins and a possible digital euro to regain influence in digital payments. The next verified milestone will be the planned launch of the banking consortium in the second half of 2026; the effective implementation of these initiatives will determine whether the EU reduces its dependence on the dollar in the digital money ecosystem.
