Disclaimer: The article has been updated to reflect that EUROe is not the only or the first EU-regulated stablecoin offering in the region.
Finnish company Membrane Finance has released a fully-reserved stablecoin backed by the euro, according to a Feb. 2 blog post from the company. The company is licensed by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Fin-FSA), which targets to reduce the complexity of converting and paying in volatile cryptocurrencies.
Membrane Finance is excited to announce the launch of EUROe on Ethereum!
Read more at https://t.co/nV8dYKkBmK, and read the thread below to see how you can get started with $EUROe from today!
— EUROe (@EUROemoney) February 2, 2023
By fusing EUROe with the Ethereum blockchain, Membrane Finance aims to enable near-instant payments globally for a fraction of the cost required in a traditional fiat setting.
Each EUROe token is backed by “at least one fiat euro […] In a European financial institution or bank, ring-fenced from Membrane Finance,” according to the company’s post. The company believes it will allow for “near-instant payments” at close to zero cost, in contrast to the high cost and slow speeds of traditional finance.
Membrane Finance CEO Juha Viitala expressed hope that the regulated EUROe coin would encourage more Europeans to grow their wealth through the use of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, stating:
“Stablecoins are an essential part of the transition towards blockchain-based money infrastructure, and Europeans deserve to have a full-reserve euro stablecoin from the EU and regulated by an EU-based financial authority. EUROe hopefully brings more regular people to DeFi, who were previously unable to or worried about the volatility of cryptocurrencies.”
Since 2021, the European market has witnessed numerous Euro-pegged stablecoin offerings being launched to over the complexities present in the fiat economy, including Circle’s EUROC and Cardano’s Stasis Euro (EURS).
Related: UK-native stablecoin integrates into 18,000 ATMs nationwide
Membrane Finance plans to extend EUROe’s support from Ethereum to other popular blockchains to improve its cross-compatibility.
“Stablecoins,” or crypto tokens backed by fiat currency, have had a long and illustrious history in the crypto world. The first U.S. dollar stablecoin, Tether (USDT), was initially released for the Bitcoin Omni Layer, with an Ethereum version arriving in 2018. It is now the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap.
On Jan. 19, Circle and the team behind the Uniswap decentralized exchange released a report claiming that blockchain-based foreign exchange can reduce remittance costs by as much as 80%.