Circle, the United States-based issuer of the USDC stablecoin has announced it plans to launch a Euro-dominated stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain by the end of this month. Slated for June 30th, the stablecoin, named EUROC, will bear its reserves in Euro, but will be held by companies registered and trading in the US, with Silvergate Bank amongst the obvious names.
“There is clear market demand for a digital currency denominated in euros, the world’s second most traded currency after the U.S. dollar,” said Jeremy Allaire, co-founder, and CEO of Circle. “With USDC and Euro Coin, Circle is helping to unlock a new era of fast, inexpensive, secure, and interoperable value exchange worldwide.”
Stablecoins are digital tokens that serve as fiat money in the crypto trading ecosystem. Unlike other common digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL), their prices do not change and they have their respective utility in the nascent industry.
The demand for stablecoins is growing across the board, and Circle has proven to be a major issuer of these unique asset classes. Its flagged USD Coin (USDC) is the second-largest stablecoin after USDT and at the time of writing, USDC has a market capitalization of $55 billion.
Would the USDC Issuer Need to Contend With EU Regulations?
The launch of the EUROC might draw undue attention from EU regulators who are drafting a law that will protect the financial sovereignty of the region, especially from stablecoins.
The highly anticipated MiCA regulation states that;
“No person or legal entity shall offer asset-referenced tokens within the Union to the public, or seek an admission of such assets to trading on a trading platform for crypto-assets in the Union, unless the issuers of such asset-referenced tokens have been authorised to do so in accordance with Article 19 by the competent authority of their home Member State. Only legal entities that are established in the Union shall be granted an authorisation.”
Should the legislation be eventually passed before the end of the year, the USDC issuer may require further authorizations to offer the stablecoin to consumers in the 27 member states.
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