USD Coin (USDC) issuer Circle Internet Financial is launching EUROC, a fully-reserved stablecoin pegged to the euro, which will begin trading on June 30th.
Like USDC, Euro Coin will be a regulated stablecoin that is fully backed by euro reserves, and Silvergate Bank was listed as the initial custodian for the euro-pegged stablecoin. In a tweet, Circle’s CEO Jeremy Allaire shared: “Euro Coin is being issued under a regulated framework for money transmission, under the same statutes that regulate USDC, with full reserves in Euro.”
Launching on the Ethereum blockchain as an ERC-20 standard token with more supported networks to follow later this year, EUROC stabelcoin will give businesses more comprehensive access to euro liquidity, which can be used for payments, trading, lending, and borrowing.
“There is clear market demand for a digital currency denominated in euros, the world’s second most traded currency after the U.S. dollar.” CEO Jeremy Allaire explained. By offering USDC and Euro Coin, the company “is helping to unlock a new era of fast, inexpensive, secure and interoperable value exchange worldwide.”
Once trading begins, Euro Coin will be available to non-Circle users on crypto exchanges, such as Binance.US, Bitstamp, FTX, and Huobi Global, and popular decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, including Compound, Curve, and Uniswap. Other partners include custody service providers Anchorage Digital, CYBAVO, and Fireblocks, as well as hardware wallet Ledger and MetaMask Institutional, an institution-compliant version of the popular DeFi wallet.
He continued: “Euro Coin expands opportunities for payments, on-chain FX, trade finance, commerce, and broader digital asset markets use-cases. The launch is symbolic of a shift in crypto markets towards greater and greater utility value from blockchain infrastructure.”
He added that Euro Coin will have “the same security, liquidity and transparency” as USDC, the industry’s second-largest stablecoin with a market capitalization of $54.5 billion.
The global stablecoin market is currently worth more than $157.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The market cap of USDC stands at $54.2 billion.
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