Euro stablecoin market analysis: small scale but great potential

As the world's second largest currency, the euro occupies an important position in the traditional financial sector. However, in the blockchain world, the market share of euro stablecoins lags far behind that of US dollar stablecoins, accounting for less than 1% of the latter. However, as major players like Circle begin to establish their presence, this situation may gradually improve. This article will provide a detailed analysis of several major euro stablecoins, including their issuance mechanisms, market sizes, and application scenarios.

Euro Tether (EURT): The Euro Attempt of the Stablecoin Giant

As a leader in the stablecoin market, Tether's USDT has a market capitalization of up to $65.9 billion, firmly holding the first place in the industry. Although Tether has faced doubts regarding compliance and transparency, it remains one of the most popular stablecoins in the market. EURT adopts a centralized issuance model similar to USDT, backed by actual assets as reserves.

According to the latest data, the issuance of EURT is approximately 108 million, primarily circulating on the Ethereum network. The amount of EURT on the Omni network is negligible, at only about 1,450. The main holders of EURT are exchanges and liquidity pools, with one exchange being the largest holder, followed by two liquidity pools from Curve, the Polygon cross-chain bridge, and another exchange. It is worth noting that the actual on-chain usage ratio of EURT is relatively low, with most held by external accounts.

Euro Coin (EUROC): The Ambition of a Rising Star

A certain trading platform, as a major competitor to Tether, has recently launched its own euro stablecoin EUROC. This coin was issued on the Ethereum network on June 30, and the issuing organization claims that EUROC is backed by funds in bank accounts denominated in 100% euros.

Since EUROC was just launched not long ago, its issuance is relatively small, and the official data has not yet been released. According to information from blockchain explorers, the supply of EUROC is only about 320,000, mainly held by some hard-to-identify external accounts. In terms of on-chain applications, there is only a small amount of liquidity available in the DEX DFX.

STASIS EURO (EURS): Early Adopters

EURS is a centralized euro stablecoin issued by the STASIS platform, which went live back in July 2018. Its issuance mechanism is similar to that of Tether, claiming to be backed by reserves on a 1:1 basis and accepting audits from top global accounting firms. STASIS updates its reports daily, verifies them quarterly, and conducts a full audit annually.

The issuance of EURS is 78.61 million, mainly circulating on the Ethereum mainnet, with a small distribution on networks such as Arbitrum, Matic, xDAI, Algorand, and Ripple. The blockchain explorer shows that the total supply of EURS is 124 million, which may include some unissued tokens. Among the issued EURS, nearly 40% are in the liquidity pool of Curve, and there is also a certain proportion of liquidity on a DEX.

agEUR: An Innovative Decentralized Solution

agEUR adopts a novel decentralized issuance mechanism. Users can mint agEUR 1:1 using supported tokens, while the protocol manages exchange rate risk through hedging agents and standard liquidity providers. Recently, agEUR also added a lending feature, allowing users to mint agEUR by over-collateralizing crypto assets, similar to the mechanism of borrowing DAI by collateralizing on a lending platform.

The issuance of agEUR is approximately 42.83 million, and its liquidity performance is good. The total liquidity of agEUR in a certain DEX and another DEX liquidity pool exceeds 60% of its total amount.

Iron Bank EURO (ibEUR): A member of fixed foreign exchange projects.

ibEUR is part of the Fixed Forex project, which includes various foreign exchange tokens. The total creation volume of ibEUR is 120 million, but most of it remains unused. After deducting the unused portion, the actual issuance volume of ibEUR is approximately 10.23 million.

In the circulating ibEUR, over 80% is concentrated in two trading pairs on Curve: ibEUR/sEUR and ibEUR/agEUR.

sEUR: The Euro version of synthetic assets

sEUR is a product in a synthetic asset platform. Users can mint sUSD by over-collateralizing the platform tokens and then use sUSD to exchange for various synthetic assets, including sEUR.

According to the platform data, the total value of sEUR is approximately 7.96 million USD, and based on the current exchange rate, the total issuance is about 7.8 million. On the Ethereum mainnet, the issuance of sEUR is around 7.71 million, of which 62.6% of the liquidity is concentrated in two trading pairs on Curve.

Summary

The euro stablecoin market is currently small in scale, but prices are generally stable at around 1 euro. EURT leads with an issuance of 108 million, while EUROC is still in its early stages. Decentralized stablecoins have broader on-chain applications, primarily concentrated in liquidity pools on Curve and certain DEXs. EURT and EURS are more commonly used on exchanges. With the development of the market and the entry of more participants, the euro stablecoin market is expected to see greater growth potential.