First MiCA-Regulated Stablecoin by EU Bank Listed on Binance
EURITE, issued by major tech-driven bank Banking Circle with Fireblocks' assistance, has shown a high level of trading volume in the first hours after listing.
Today, on August 28, EURITE (EURI), a new Euro-backed stablecoin available on Ethereum and BNB Chain, made its debut on Binance. This is one of the first stablecoins to comply fully with the European Union’s MiCA regulations and the first MiCA-regulated stablecoin that was issued and backed by a bank in the EU.
The Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier authorized the token issuer, Banking Circle S.A, as a credit institution in 2018. This regulatory backing gives EURITE a strong foundation, especially after the MiCA implementation, which put several restrictions on stablecoin market players in the EU. Banking Circle plans to expand EURITE’s presence to other exchanges and networks and is considering launching more stablecoins in the future.
Banking Circle is a payments bank founded in 2013 as a FinTech startup in Copenhagen. Initially, the company focused on providing cross-border payment services. In 2018, motivated by the need for a stronger regulatory framework within the EU, Banking Circle made the strategic move to move its headquarters to Luxembourg. The bank is now a major B2B financial services sector player, processing hundreds of billions of euros in transactions annually and settling a significant part of Europe’s B2C e-commerce. It has a range of offerings, including multi-currency bank accounts, foreign exchange, and business lending. In 2022, the company made its first move into the digital asset market, allowing payments in USDC as well as conversion of USDC to fiat currencies on its platform.
EURI is powered by Fireblocks Tokenization Engine. The pioneer in multi-party computation, Fireblocks has participated in more than ten stablecoin-related projects since 2022, including cooperation with European-based Stasis, which issues the biggest euro-pegged stablecoin by market capitalization. Now, the company is reportedly in active conversations with more than 25 banks across the globe, exploring the creation of bank-issued stablecoins or tokenized assets. Fireblocks is also working with the M^0 protocol backed by Pantera Capital, which provides institutions with tools to mint their own interoperable stablecoins.
Available trading pairs on Binance include EUR/EURI and USDT/EURI. So far, there is no confirmed information on the token supply, trading volume, or market capitalization, but according to Binance data, the EURI trading volume within the first hour was over $5.5 million, while the capitalization was over $30 million. To compare, EURC’s 24-hour trading volume across all platforms was around $4 million at the time of writing. Its issuer, Circle, became the first global stablecoin issuer to achieve MiCA compliance in July.
Although the trading volume data for EURI seems inflated at first glance, this could be explained by a surge in activity straight after the launch, a zero-fee trading promotion boost, or simply the fact that the world’s biggest platform doesn’t offer any other EUR-pegged stablecoins.
MiCA introduced caps on issuance and transactions for certain USD-referenced coins, including USDC, USDT, and BUSD. Earlier, we suggested that this would likely contribute to the growth of EUR-denominated stablecoins, as the inconveniences connected with the restrictions would encourage their adoption among local users.
On the eve of the MiCA implementation, Binance promised to restrict the availability of all ‘Unauthorized Stablecoins’ for EEA users. Since then, no more announcements have been made. The most popular stablecoin, USDT, remains available, although its issuer, Tether, hasn’t registered in the European Union yet.
So far, we haven’t observed major shifts in the EU stablecoin market, but all the major EUR-denominated stablecoins, including EURt, EURS, and EURC, have been showing slight growth in market capitalization.
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