{"id":97374,"date":"2026-05-23T12:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=97374"},"modified":"2026-05-23T12:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T09:10:12","slug":"ecb-opposes-support-for-euro-stablecoins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/ecb-opposes-support-for-euro-stablecoins\/","title":{"rendered":"ECB Opposes Support for Euro Stablecoins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned of the risks associated with issuing euro stablecoins, stating they could reduce bank lending and complicate interest rate control. This was reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/finance\/ecb-rebuffs-proposals-boost-euro-stablecoins-too-risky-2026-05-22\/\">Reuters<\/a>, citing sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Concerns were sparked by a memo from the Brussels-based think tank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bruegel.org\/policy-brief\/new-strategy-contain-stablecoin-risks-european-union\">Bruegel<\/a>. The document&#8217;s authors proposed:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>easing liquidity requirements for issuers;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>considering access to ECB funding;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>supporting the development of the European stablecoin market, currently dominated by dollar coins.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The idea was presented on May 22 at a meeting of financial officials in Nicosia. According to the agency, the initiative immediately faced resistance from regulators, including ECB President Christine Lagarde.<\/p>\n<p>The institution believes that the spread of stablecoins could weaken the resilience of bank deposits. When a token is issued, users&#8217; funds are transferred to the issuer&#8217;s accounts, ceasing to be a stable funding source for banks.<\/p>\n<p>A mass shift of funds into stablecoins could also accelerate <span data-descr=\"the process of excluding third parties (distributors, brokers, or banks) from the financial interaction chain\" class=\"old_tooltip\">disintermediation<\/span>, complicate fundraising, and limit banks&#8217; lending capabilities, regulators fear.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in May, Lagarde had already criticized euro stablecoins, instead supporting <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/ecb-favors-digital-euro-over-stablecoins\">tokenized<\/a> bank deposits. In her view, they combine the reliability of traditional accounts with the speed and programmability of distributed ledger technology.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Dollar in Europe<\/h2>\n<p>Bruegel warned that stricter regulation of stablecoins in the EU compared to the US could push activity outside the bloc and increase &#8220;digital dollarization.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Several central banks downplayed this risk. Some again called for enshrining in European legislation a ban on redeeming stablecoins issued both in the EU and the US. They believe this could pressure local issuers&#8217; reserves.<\/p>\n<p>The European Commission is currently reviewing the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-are-rwas-real-world-assets\">MiCA<\/a> regulation, effective from 2024. It requires stablecoin issuers to hold a significant portion of reserves in bank deposits and other liquid assets.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters journalists noted that the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/what-is-markets-in-crypto-assets-mica\">GENIUS Act<\/a>, adopted in the US in 2025, sets more lenient requirements and aims to support the global role of the dollar through regulated USD tokens.<\/p>\n<p>According to Artemis, cited by Bruegel, the supply of stablecoins grew by about a third over the year to $300 billion.<\/p>\n<p>However, euro-pegged tokens account for only 0.3% of the total supply. The largest among them, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/us-treasury-initiates-implementation-of-genius-act\">EURC by Circle<\/a>, ranks around 20th in market capitalization among &#8220;stable coins.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Europe accounted for 38% of global stablecoin transactions in the fourth quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Back in April, the ECB <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/circle-secures-first-mica-compliant-stablecoin-license\">signed<\/a> agreements with three European organizations on payment standards for the digital euro.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Central Bank (ECB) has warned of the risks associated with issuing euro stablecoins, stating they could reduce bank lending and complicate interest rate control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"ECB warns euro stablecoins could reduce bank lending and complicate interest rate control.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[733,36,807],"class_list":["post-97374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-europe","tag-regulation","tag-stablecoins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"13","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"ECB warns euro stablecoins could reduce bank lending and complicate interest rate control.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97376,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97374\/revisions\/97376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}