Franco-German banking group ODDO BHF has introduced a stablecoin tied to the euro under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation.
As per an announcement released on Wednesday, the bank will act as the issuer of the EUROD stablecoin, while Flowdesk will ensure liquidity and Fireblocks will provide the tokenization infrastructure.
Guy de Leusse, deputy chief operating officer at ODDO BHF, stated that the group recognized the need to deliver a European solution in euros to offer an alternative to US dollar-denominated stablecoins.
Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to traditional currencies like the euro. The new token will first be available on the Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me.
ODDO BHF is a privately held European financial institution established in 2016 through the merger of France’s ODDO bank, founded in 1849, and Germany’s BHF-BANK, which began operations in 1854. As noted by the bank, it operates in France, Tunisia, Germany, and Switzerland.
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European stablecoins on the rise
Previously, the stablecoin market has been primarily dominated by dollar-pegged tokens. Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) remain the two largest globally, representing more than 83% of the total stablecoin market capitalization of $306.35 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.
However, there is increasing interest from the rest of the world, especially Europe, in creating stablecoins pegged to their own fiat currencies.
On April 20, 2025, Société Générale’s regulated digital asset subsidiary, SG-Forge, launched EUR CoinVertible, a euro-denominated stablecoin on Ethereum for qualified institutional investors onboarded by the bank.
In July, AllUnity—backed by Flow Traders, Deutsche Bank’s DWS, and Galaxy—announced EURAU, a euro-pegged stablecoin that became publicly available on July 31.
Nine European banks also revealed plans to introduce a euro-pegged stablecoin, anticipated to launch in the latter half of 2026.
Bhau Kotecha, co-founder of Paxos Labs, commented, “USD-backed stablecoins have enjoyed a multi-year head start.” He noted that to match this growth, euro and other fiat-backed issuers “will need to devise unique adoption strategies focusing on the right partnerships, use cases, and liquidity pathways.”
Since the passage of the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill in the United States in July 2025, there seems to be a growing momentum in Europe to develop euro-denominated stablecoins.
In September, ECB president Christine Lagarde warned that the EU needs to address regulatory gaps regarding foreign stablecoins, stating that unregulated issuers could divert liquidity from the euro and the broader EU financial system.
During a hearing on the eurozone’s economic outlook on Thursday, Pierre Gramegna, managing director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), remarked, “Europe should strive to facilitate the emergence of euro-denominated stablecoins by domestic issuers.”
Europe has been deliberating a digital euro, a central bank digital currency, in the European Parliament since 2023, although its launch is not projected before 2029.
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