As the demand for stablecoins continues to rise, Circle is releasing a fully-reserved stablecoin tied to the Euro, known as EUROC.
Circle announced in a statement shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday that Euro Coin, or EUROC, will be accessible for trading on June 30. Euro Coin, like USDC, is a regulated stablecoin backed entirely by reserves — in this case, the euro.
This means that for every EUROC token in circulation, an equivalent euro-denominated reserve will be maintained in custody at US-regulated financial institutions. The euro-pegged stablecoin’s initial custodian was listed as Silvergate Bank, a crypto-friendly financial institution.
The EUROC stablecoin allows businesses to have more access to euro liquidity for payments, trading, lending, and borrowing. The stablecoin will debut as an ERC-20 standard token on the Ethereum blockchain.
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the euro is the world’s second-largest fiat currency in terms of foreign exchange turnover (BIS). The euro was on one side of 32% of all currency exchanges, according to the BIS’ 2019 Triennial Central Bank Survey.
The euro is the unified currency of the Eurozone’s 19 members, having been introduced in 1999. Its dominance as a trading pair is mirrored in the United States Dollar Index, or DXY, which has a weight of 57.6 percent.
Due to banking prohibitions on digital assets, stablecoins were created as a solution to provide liquidity to crypto traders. Their utility, on the other hand, has grown dramatically over time.
Circle has created dedicated business accounts for USDC transactions, as reported by Cointelegraph, highlighting the growing demand for stablecoin payments among businesses.
Stablecoins now serve the unbanked and underbanked, as well as customers in nations with limited access to dollars due to financial controls or sanctions.
According to CoinMarketCap, the worldwide stablecoin market is currently worth more than $157.5 billion. USDC has a market capitalization of $54.2 billion.
