The issuer of USDC, Circle, has announced that it will be issuing a second stablecoin, the Euro Coin (EUROC). Different from the US dollar-pegged USDC, Euro Coin will be pegged on a 1:1 ratio to the Euro.
According to today’s announcement on Circle’s blog, Euro Coin will be fully backed by euro-denominated reserves. The payment firm says that together with USDC, the two stablecoins will “unlock new possibilities for multi-currency digital banking and near-instant foreign exchange.” Here, it notes the potential of daily traditional markets to tap a $6.6 trillion daily volume.
As of today, a total of $156 billion in dollar-denominated stablecoins are in circulation. Comparatively, euro-denominated stablecoins fall back at just $129 million. The Euro Coin will, therefore, enable seamless transfer of euro liquidity on-chain, effectively increasing the speed of such transactions.
More specifically, exchanges will enable trading, as institutional traders take advantage of the stablecoin’s arbitrage across different exchanges and DeFi platforms. For businesses, Euro Coin will power near-instant payment infrastructures, increasing cash flow and growing customer bases. At the grassroots, the digital currency will enable individuals to easily make payments and remittances, other than utilizing EUROC in Web3.
Circle notes that Euro Coin will officially go live on Ethereum on June 30 and expand to other blockchains within the year. The launch has 13 supporters from the crypto industry, including Binance US, Uniswap, Fireblocks, and Ledger hardware wallet provider.
Developers wishing to develop EUROC-utilizing smart contracts can do so from today. Meanwhile, liquidity for the stablecoin will be available following its launch.
Currently, Euro Coin minting is exclusive to businesses with Circle Accounts, where they can mint using the Silvergate Euro SEN network. Circle says it will make other deposit options available within the year. Additionally, those without Circle accounts will be able to access the digital currency following its launch at the end of the month.
The EUROC comes at a time when algorithmic stablecoins are viewed with skepticism, following Terra’s UST disastrous debacle.
And on June 14, TRON’s USDD de-pegged from the dollar, causing TRX prices to tumble. Yesterday, TRON DAO had to deploy 2.5 billion TRX tokens to defend the stablecoin’s peg.