According to a report jointly released by payment giants Visa and Dune Analytics, as of February 2026, the total supply of non-USD stablecoins has reached US$1.1 billion, an increase of approximately three times from January 2023, and the transfer scale has soared from US$600 million to US$10 billion, an increase of more than 1,600%. In this structural game of monetary standards, can the euro stablecoin seize the opportunity and truly shake the dominance of the US dollar?
The Rise of Non-USD Stablecoins: From Fringe to Mainstream
We see that non-USD stablecoins are completing an identity transformation—from arbitrage tools in the DeFi world to becoming “local currencies” that truly serve the real economy.
In the past three years, this market has delivered a brilliant answer: non-USD stablecoins have tripled in three years, driven by real demand. Visa's latest report gives a set of key data: more than 1.2 million addresses hold non-US dollar stablecoins, and the number of active sending addresses has soared from about 6,000 to 135,000, of which 80% of the activity is concentrated in payment and fund management. This means that people are starting to use them for cross-border remittances, B2B settlements, and foreign exchange transactions—all real-life scenarios, no longer pure on-chain arbitrage.
Non-USD Stablecoin Market Structure
Where does this growth come from? We found that successful non-USD stablecoins all have one thing in common: understanding the local market. In Latin America, they help residents protect against currency depreciation; in Southeast Asia, they compress cross-border remittances from days to minutes. This idea of regional breakthroughs just points the way for the euro stable currency-instead of having a head-on confrontation with the U.S. dollar, it is better to establish a solid local scene in a market that you are familiar with.
The Dilemma and Breakthrough of the Euro Stablecoin
The huge gap between ideal and reality: Why does MiCA regulatory bonus fail?
We originally thought that the MiCA regulatory framework launched by the European Union ahead of the rest of the world would be a shot in the arm for euro stablecoins. The compliance threshold is clear and the system has advantages. In theory, it should usher in an explosion. However, the reality is very different. According to data from encryption research organization Kaiko, the monthly spot trading volume of euro stablecoins has halved from nearly US$200 million in early 2024 to approximately US$100 million in 2026. Tether has even stopped minting its euro stablecoin EURT in 2024. The reason is very straightforward: it cannot be sold, and the trading volume is far less than its own US dollar products.
The underlying crux: Lack of demand and the lock-in effect of the U.S. dollar network
The core reason why the euro stablecoin has been cold is not the lack of supervision, but the lack of demand. Kaiko analysis pointed out that traders generally choose to use U.S. dollar stablecoins for transactions, while euro stablecoins "will only increase the friction of currency exchange, but cannot bring substantial benefits." Compared with the U.S. dollar stablecoin market, which has a monthly trading volume of more than $1 trillion, the size of euro stablecoins is nearly 200 times different. Against the backdrop of a three-fold surge in non-US dollar stablecoins in three years, the desolation of euro stablecoins is particularly eye-catching - not because the opponents are too strong, but because I have never found the reason why I have to use them.
Can the euro stablecoin turn things around?
Active entry of traditional finance: from Qivalis to Newrails
We note that despite the challenges, Europe has not given up its efforts to build its own on-chain financial infrastructure. In March 2026, the Qivalis Alliance, composed of 12 major European banks including BNP Paribas, UniCredit, and BBVA, announced that it would launch a stable currency anchored to the euro at a ratio of 1:1 in the second half of 2026.
euro stablecointrading volume
The stablecoin adopts a robust reserve mechanism of "bank deposits + sovereign treasury bonds", with at least 40% held in the form of bank deposits and the remainder invested in high-rated short-term Eurozone treasury bonds. At the same time, Newrails, an electronic currency institution supervised by the Bank of Lithuania, also launched the MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin EURW on the Monad blockchain, supporting zero-fee exchange for fiat currency.
We can see that under the general trend of non-USD stablecoins trebling in three years, European traditional finance is redefining its entry posture in its own way.
The battle for digital sovereignty: the multi-polar clearing structure of on-chain finance
The ECB warned in a report released in March 2026 that if U.S. dollar stablecoins are widely used in Europe, foreign monetary policies may be "imported" into the euro area through stablecoins, weakening the ECB's control over the financial environment. This is the underlying logic behind the efforts of alliances such as Qivalis - not to challenge the U.S. dollar in terms of scale, but to ensure that the euro has an institutional entrance into the future on-chain financial system. S&P Global Ratings predicts that as European banks accelerate their deployment, the euro stablecoin market is expected to grow from the current 650 million euros to 1.1 billion euros in 2030.
After all, non-US dollar stablecoins have tripled in three years. Can euro stablecoins really challenge the status of the US dollar? At least judging from the European layout, this is not a battle for victory or defeat, but a battle for the right to enter the future payment infrastructure.
Conclusion
Although non-USD stablecoins have surged three times in three years, US dollar stablecoins will still dominate the market in the short term due to their first-mover advantages and network effects. However, the collective entry of European banking giants, the continued improvement of the MiCA regulatory framework, and the evolution of on-chain finance from single currency settlement to a multi-polar structure are creating historic opportunities for euro stablecoins. In future competition, victory or defeat will not lie in who can replace whom, but in who can build an on-chain financial infrastructure that truly meets local needs, has compliance guarantees and capital efficiency.
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