Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency offering investors price stability. The most popular stablecoins are those backed by the United States dollar — the world’s leading reserve currency. Others are less popular and not widely used, so many may not have heard of alternatives if they haven’t searched for them. According to data from the International Monetary Fund, the euro is the world’s second most widely held reserve currency, behind the U.S. dollar and ahead of the Chinese yuan. The euro is the official currency of the eurozone, comprising 20 of 27 member states of the European Union (EU), with …

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) and claims that the new ”EUROe” coin is “the first and only EU-regulated crypto stablecoin.” 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 U.S.-based Circle Inc. released its own euro-backed stablecoin in June, but its Euro …

The digital euro, should it come into existence, will preserve the role of the central bank by extending payment options beyond those offered by cash, European Central Bank (ECB) executive board member Fabio Panetta told a European Parliament committee Jan. 23. Panetta expressed satisfaction with the progress of research on a potential digital euro. He told the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee: “The ECB is at the global forefront of the efforts by central banks to design state-of-the-art digital payment solutions for both retail and wholesale transactions.” Access to the digital euro would initially be open to consumers, …

The financial sandbox ar of the Bank of Spain, or Banco de España, has reportedly approved a project from fintech firm Monei testing a token linked to the euro. According to a Jan. 18 report from Spain-based news outlet Cinco Días, the Bank of Spain gave the green light to Monei to issue its EURM token as part of a testing phase expected to last between 6-12 months. The sandbox was aimed at establishing a controlled testing environment for financial innovations projects in Spain under the supervision of central bank authorities. As part of EURM’s testing phase, eligible Spanish residents …

Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England (BoE) governor, expressed skepticism on the need for a digital pound shortly after finance ministers from eurozone countries backed further work on a digital euro. The BoE governor recently questioned the need for a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) citing that there already is a “wholesale central bank money settlement system with a major upgrade.” In addition, Bailey also expressed that there are no plans to abolish cash when it comes to retail use. The BoE governor does not believe that retail payments need to change at the moment. He explained: “We have …

The Eurogroup, consisting of all the finance ministers from the euro-zone countries, released a statement Jan. 16 on the introduction of the digital euro, after meeting in Brussels. The group meets regularly to discuss political dimensions of the potential digital currency, it said. The statement release coincides with the release of a European Central Bank (ECB) “stock taking” document detailing the progress of digital euro design. The Eurogroup statement addressed the need for the European Central Bank and European Commission to inform the Eurogroup and EU member states of developments in the creation of the digital euro, which is in …

By the end of 2022, scammers shifted their focus to duping crypto investors who desperately tried to recoup their year-long losses. An international law enforcement operation led by European government agencies joined crypto entrepreneurs and businesses to curb cross-border crypto scams since July 2022, uncovering a criminal network operating through call centers. Europol and Eurojust, two EU agencies for law enforcement cooperation, joined authorities from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany and Serbia to investigate online investment fraud since June 2022. The investigation identified a criminal network that incurred losses of over $2.1 million (over 2 million euros) — primarily for German investors. …

Progress continues on the creation of a digital euro, and the European Central Bank (ECB) has documented it in a second progress report that described design and distribution options recently approved by its governing council. The report considered four crucial issues, roughly in keeping with the timeline the ECB set for itself that tentatively culminates in a decision on whether to transition from the investigation to the realization phase of work in Q3 2023. The report outlined the roles of the Eurosystem and intermediaries and established that supervised intermediaries would be responsible for all management and user-facing roles in the …

Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, Queen of the Netherlands, said she was encouraged by the work the European Central Bank had accomplished in its efforts to launch a digital euro. Speaking virtually at a European Commission conference ‘towards a legislative framework enabling a digital euro for citizens and for businesses’ on Nov. 7, the queen said a digital euro could encourage financial inclusion among underserved communities by circumventing roadblocks including transaction fees and documentation requirements. According to the regent, a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, in the European Union could help reduce the cost of remittances, but may require policy reforms …

The paths of traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry have intersected again, with a crypto startup coming to save the iconic Euro monument in Frankfurt. Frankfurt-based crypto startup Caiz Development will provide 1 million euros, or about $961,000, in funding over the next five years to rescue the famous Euro sculpture. Announcing the news on Tuesday, Caiz said that the firm saw a good marketing opportunity in supporting the sculpture by obtaining unique exposure. Through the funding, the firm was able to put its product board next to the 14-meter-high euro sign bearing 12 yellow stars, which represent the original …

The European Central Bank, or ECB, has announced it will be collaborating with five companies for the development of potential digital euro user interfaces. In a Friday announcement, the ECB said it had chosen 'Big Four' tech company Amazon, fintech firm Nexi, Spanish digital bank CaixaBank, French payments platform Worldline, and the European Payments Initiative, or EPI, to each focus on developing a prototype based on specific use cases of the digital euro. According to the central bank, the firms will create front-end prototypes, which will not be used in later phases of the digital currency project. The ECB chose …

Derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has launched trading for Bitcoin euro and Ether euro futures contracts. In a Monday announcement, CME Group said that it launched contracts for euro-denominated Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures sized at 5 BTC and 50 ETH per contract. Both contracts will be listed on CME, cash-settled, and based on the CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate, respectively. "Our new Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures will provide institutional clients, both within and outside the U.S., with more precise and regulated tools to trade and hedge exposure to the …