European Banks To Launch Euro Stablecoin In Bid To Counter US Dominance (reuters.com) 33
Nine major European banks are creating a Netherlands-based company to launch a euro-backed stablecoin in 2026, aiming to counter U.S. dominance in the digital token market. Reuters reports: While global stablecoin issuance stands at nearly $300 billion, euro-denominated stablecoins totalled just $620 million, according to figures released last week by the Bank of Italy, with dollar-pegged tokens overwhelmingly dominant. "The initiative will provide a real European alternative to the U.S.-dominated stablecoin market, contributing to Europe's strategic autonomy in payments," the banks said. They launched the effort, which they said will create a token that can be used for quick, low-cost payments and settlements, even as the European Central Bank voices scepticism over stablecoins.
ECB President Christine Lagarde in June told European policymakers that privately issued stablecoins posed risks for monetary policy and financial stability. As a safer alternative, she has urged European lawmakers to introduce legislation backing the launch of a digital version of the EU's single currency. Some commercial banks, however, have pushed back against the introduction of a digital euro, fearing that it would empty their coffers as customers transfer cash out of banks and into the safety of an ECB-guaranteed wallet. In addition to ING and UniCredit, the other banks participating in the new company include Banca Sella, KBC, DekaBank, Danske Bank, SEB, Caixabank, and Raiffeisen Bank International. They said that others could join the initiative, and a CEO for the company would be appointed soon. According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank, emerging market economies are adopting dollar-based stablecoins to replace local deposits and cash. "This has created a global monetary dilemma: countries should adopt stablecoins or risk being left behind. Europe is under particular pressure."
ECB President Christine Lagarde in June told European policymakers that privately issued stablecoins posed risks for monetary policy and financial stability. As a safer alternative, she has urged European lawmakers to introduce legislation backing the launch of a digital version of the EU's single currency. Some commercial banks, however, have pushed back against the introduction of a digital euro, fearing that it would empty their coffers as customers transfer cash out of banks and into the safety of an ECB-guaranteed wallet. In addition to ING and UniCredit, the other banks participating in the new company include Banca Sella, KBC, DekaBank, Danske Bank, SEB, Caixabank, and Raiffeisen Bank International. They said that others could join the initiative, and a CEO for the company would be appointed soon. According to a recent report by Deutsche Bank, emerging market economies are adopting dollar-based stablecoins to replace local deposits and cash. "This has created a global monetary dilemma: countries should adopt stablecoins or risk being left behind. Europe is under particular pressure."
Join the scam! Quick. (Score:2)
Really easy for me to understand how desperate fools would jump into the cyber-crime game. So much fake and imaginary money floating around and the police are so helpless, especially when the scams cross international borders.
Anyone else see one of the new GAIvatar scams? Really impressive impersonations of celebrities. Presumably the GAIvatars are style-trained on the authentic writings and videos. I don't want to confess how badly I was fooled, but I'm naturally suspicious and I deny any special gullibili
Re:Join the scam! Quick. (Score:4, Interesting)
Stablecoins are widely used in Argentina due to currency controls. Nowadays the controls have been relaxed but up until 2 years ago, people working for abroad were forced to convert their hard currency (dollars usually) into pesos at an arbitrary market set by the government (50% less than market rate), forced to stay in pesos, and forced to pay 35% income tax from the remaining earnings
People just avoided all that crap
Nowadays with the new government the restrictions have been lifted, the banks are now forced not to charge international wire fees (most banks had a 0.2% fee with $100 minimum), and people are not forced to exchange to dollars. In addition, the non taxable minimum for income tax has been raised to a sane level. Needless to say, a LOT more people are now using the legal channels now that they're not being stolen every time they are paid.
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Mod parent up, but I'm disappointed I didn't get the Funny I was going for...
Don't fear the unknowns (Score:2)
Thats not evidence that stablecoins are good. Its an admission that trusting the promise of an unknown cryptobro located in some unknown country, and paying him his cut, is better than interacting with the Argentinian monetary system. Its means that the Argentinian monetary system is a flaming dumpster fire.
People working to keep the value of the money they earned is, in fact, good.
As for paying an "unknown" person in an "unknown" country as an intermediary... isn't that how international transactions work? Do you know the people at Western Union? Do you know which country the SWIFT servers are located in? Or which routers you use to connect to a bank's website?
The fact is, workers abroad found a solution to remit their earnings back home, cheaply and effectively. That's good.
Rai stones and stablecoins (Score:5, Interesting)
“One of the central mysteries of contemporary society is how the financial sector has managed to accumulate so much wealth and power. The heart of the answer is its capacity to create financial assets – stocks, bonds, options, derivatives, and the like – which investors are prepared to buy.
These assets have been naturalised: they have come to be seen as unproblematic objects with value in their own right and thus as just one more commodity that it is perfectly reasonable to buy and sell for profit. Yet in reality they are nothing more than promises, typically promises to deliver a revenue stream if certain conditions are satisfied, and highly tenuous promises at that.
The value of these assets, to put it differently, is socially constructed: it depends on the beliefs of investors about their value, which depend in turn on the stories that are told in order to encourage those beliefs.”
--
‘Rai stones [medium.com] are a form of physical asset whose value is derived primarily from collective social agreement, historical significance, and cultural context, rather than from intrinsic utility or material scarcity.’
Obsolete before it starts (Score:5, Insightful)
There is something you can use instead already. It is called the "Euro" and it can be nicely used in bank transfers that cost next to nothing or will do so soon.
Re:Obsolete before it starts (Score:4, Interesting)
Bank transfers from one account to another within the EU are free of charge, by EU law.
They can charge for manual service though, so you'd have to do it online. Of course the banks try to load you with extra charges that give them revenue, so you'd have to uncheck those boxes.
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Yes, they are free of (direct) charge for the customer. They still cost something and that cost is passed on to customers, indirectly. But this cost is so small that it hardly matters. I saw a number of 0.01EUR/transaction with a volume of 50k transactions per year a while back.
Re:Obsolete before it starts (Score:4, Interesting)
Yes, and they are working on an extension of that called digital euro which is a europe-wide payment system, that can replace mastercard and visa. Something most countries already have but all separate and local.
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Though in this case there's anot
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A centralized system is always faster and easier to setup as something as silly and pointless as a blockchain. If they are setting up or testing a blockchain, it would only be to test pushback for doing something stupid and less safe.
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It actually is not really centralized either. Any bank has a heavily secured and locked down transfer log system. The way a bank transfer gets later proven is by the source and target bank having the same transfer in that system. While that sounds like you could mess with it and create money from nothing, that is an instant reason for people going to prison and the bank getting shut down when it inevitably shows up in the regular independent audits. That audit is then centralized in a sense and makes sure n
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I was part of the security evaluation of one of these crapto experiments. I do not think they have a future. Essentially, with instant and free transfers (before cost was something like 0.01 EUR/Transfer, so basically irrelevant) not even that "digital Euro" is needed. It essentially already exists and basically is just a name for an unified, modern European instant bank transfer system.
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1. Debit cards are commonly Maestro (Mastercard) or Visapay (Visa). Besides the kickback they take, they're also US companies and we really don't like or trust those guys anymore.
2. Try using EUR in far away countries. You will pay out of your ass in fees for payments, ATM use, etc. New players like Revolut have slightly better offerings, but it's still only something like 200 EUR a month free, after which you pay a 2% withdrawal fee. Stablecoins don't give a fuck about borders. Having said that: ATM use fo
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Maybe you do not know that, but the big two credit-card sharks already take something like those 2% for each of their electronic transfers already. And that is a reason all of Europe has moved more and more to direct bank transfers which come with a very low and not amount based fee.
U2 has a tax evasion postbox company in Holland (Score:4, Insightful)
So the fact that this company is also registered in Holland just means they have a good fiscal team.
Missing the point (Score:2)
Nobody wants stablecoins issued by a central government or major bank.
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The really stupid thing is when these alternative assets inevitably crash, all these libertarian anti-gubbermint dumbasses in the ecosystem will scream for a bai
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What you might not want is an official digital currency with a whole bunch of rules and sur
Bandwagonism (Score:3)
Investors in the EU flock to stablecoins because the US is doing it, and they must "win the race", whatever that is.
Investors in the West flock to AI because China is, and they think that they must "win the race", whatever that is.
China has been investing heavily in AI because it is used to run their surveillance state, to keep the population from getting influence over or topple the government. That's not a race that is worthy to be in.
The US is run by a loon who is easily influenced by tech billionaires: that's also not a good precedent to mimic.
Rai stones and stablecoins .. (Score:2)
“One of the central mysteries of contemporary society is how the financial sector has managed to accumulate so much wealth and power. The heart of the answer is its capacity to create financial assets – stocks, bonds, options, derivatives, and the like – which investors are prepared to buy.
These assets have been naturalised: they have come to be seen as unproblematic objects with value in their own right and thus as just one more comm
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I just see this as "Idiocracy -- Wall Street Episode". The sheer extent to which sentiment drives many stock's values is a relatively new phenomenon in the market. Before 2000, the value-based
Now peg it to bitcoin? (Score:1)
Would be interesting if they peg it to bitcoin...
Eh. (Score:2)
Digital Eddies may end up replacing the Dollar as the US slides towards busniness myopia.
The US should have this already. (Score:2)
UPI Adoption would be smarter (Score:2)