With dollar-pegged stablecoins controlling 98% of the global market, the European Central Bank is now exploring public blockchains like Ethereum and Solana for its digital euro. A major strategic shift that could redefine the global monetary balance.
A Strategic Turning Point for Europe
The European Central Bank (ECB) is considering a major shift in its digital monetary strategy. While the digital euro project was initially designed on a private, centralized infrastructure, European officials are now exploring the possibility of deploying this currency on public blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana. This change of direction, revealed by the Financial Times in August 2025, comes amid growing pressure from the adoption of the GENIUS Act in the United States and the overwhelming dominance of dollar-backed stablecoins.
An anonymous European official told the Financial Times that the adoption of the GENIUS Act had « sent shockwaves » and that many policymakers now want to accelerate the development of the digital euro. This unprecedented geopolitical and monetary context is pushing Europe to fundamentally rethink its digital architecture.
The GENIUS Act: America’s Catalyst
On July 18, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act), the first federal American legislation specifically regulating digital assets. The law establishes a comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins:
- Mandatory 1:1 reserve in US dollars, short-term Treasury bills, or equivalent liquid assets
- Monthly publication of reserve composition for full transparency
- Holder priority over all other creditors in the event of issuer insolvency
- Compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act for anti-money laundering purposes
Washington’s objective is clear: to cement the global dominance of the dollar by stimulating demand for US Treasury bonds through stablecoins. With approximately 98% of the global stablecoin market denominated in dollars, Europe faces a real risk of « digital dollarization » of its economy — a scenario Brussels and Frankfurt can no longer afford to ignore.
Europe’s Response: Public Blockchains Under Study
An Unprecedented Paradigm Shift
In an official statement, the ECB indicated it was studying « different technologies — centralized and decentralized — in the development of the digital euro, including distributed ledger technologies. » Until now, the European CBDC was to be built on a private, closed, centrally controlled network. The exploration of public blockchains therefore represents the most significant change ever considered by the institution.
A digital euro deployed on a public blockchain would more closely resemble the American model, where companies like Circle issue stablecoins on open, interoperable networks. This convergence of models would have been unthinkable just two years ago.
Ethereum and Solana: Two Complementary Models
Both candidate blockchains offer distinct strengths for a project of this scale:
Ethereum
Advanced smart contract capabilities, proven security, and strong decentralization. It is already the premier « institutional settlement layer, » hosting between 50% and 90% of euro-denominated stablecoin capitalization.
Solana
Superior scalability with fast, low-cost transactions. An infrastructure well-suited for mass payments in real time at continental scale.
Both networks enable programmable money — payments that trigger automatically according to predefined conditions — potentially revolutionizing supply chain management and automated finance.
Blockchain as an Application Layer: An Important Technical Distinction
It is important, however, to add nuance. According to Ledger Insights, the retail digital euro does not necessarily plan to use blockchain at its base layer, as the technology is not performant enough to handle massive retail payment volumes. Blockchain would more likely be used as an application layer: a custodian could lock digital euros and issue linked blockchain tokens on top — a model comparable to China’s digital yuan, which does not use blockchain at its base but supports blockchain applications and smart contracts as an overlay.
By contrast, for a wholesale CBDC (reserved for interbank transactions), direct blockchain use is near-certain. The Banque de France is already piloting such a system with promising results.
The Euro Stablecoin Ecosystem: Already in Motion
Qivalis: The European Banking Consortium
While the ECB finalizes its strategy, the private sector isn’t waiting. In December 2025, ten major European banks unveiled Qivalis, an Amsterdam-based consortium that will issue a euro-pegged stablecoin, with a launch planned for the second half of 2026.
Founding members include BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, Banca Sella, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, and SEB. In February 2026, BBVA also joined the consortium. The stablecoin will be compliant with the MiCA regulation and supervised by the Dutch Central Bank (DNB).
« A native euro stablecoin is not just a matter of convenience — it is a matter of monetary sovereignty in the digital age. »
Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis
Société Générale-FORGE’s EURCV
Société Générale, through its subsidiary SG-Forge, launched the EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) on the Ethereum blockchain in April 2023. Since July 2024, the stablecoin has been MiCA-compliant and open to the general public without whitelisting restrictions. In January 2026, SWIFT successfully completed a pilot program using EURCV for tokenized bond settlement, demonstrating interoperability between tokenized financial assets and traditional banking infrastructure. EURCV has approximately 65.76 million tokens in circulation with a market cap of around $76.6 million.
Circle EURC
Circle, issuer of the well-known USDC, has consolidated its position in the European market with EURC, which holds approximately 41% market share among euro stablecoins post-MiCA, primarily hosted on Ethereum. A dominance that illustrates the competitiveness of the private market, but also the urgency for European players to offer their own alternatives.
Stablecoin vs. CBDC: The Great Debate
The Advantages of the Stablecoin Model
The question of the optimal model is at the heart of the debate. Several arguments favor a stablecoin approach on a public blockchain:
- Native interoperability: a stablecoin on Ethereum is immediately compatible with the global DeFi ecosystem, exchanges, and wallets
- Decentralized innovation: developers can build applications around the stablecoin without prior permission
- Censorship resistance: on a public blockchain, no single entity controls transactions
- Speed of deployment: the Qivalis consortium targets a 2026 launch, while the digital euro CBDC would not be operational before 2029 at the earliest
The Risks of a Pure CBDC
Critics of CBDCs consistently raise the same legitimate concerns:
- Financial surveillance: a CBDC potentially gives the central bank direct visibility into all transactions. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell himself acknowledged that a CBDC would require « maintaining a running record of all payment data »
- Government control: the theoretical possibility of freezing accounts, imposing spending limits, or setting expiration dates on currency
- Data centralization: according to the European Data Protection Supervisor, the concentration of payment data creates « incentives for cyberattacks and a high systemic risk of surveillance »
The ECB has tried to address these concerns by specifying that personal data would remain in the hands of commercial banks rather than the central bank. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone stressed that the digital euro would not be remunerated — « it’s not a financial instrument, it’s public money in electronic form. »
The Hybrid Model: The Most Likely Path Forward
The European think tank Bruegel recommends a « hybrid payment system based on the complementarity of the CBDC, privately issued stablecoins, and tokenized deposits. » This approach would preserve monetary sovereignty via the digital euro CBDC, encourage innovation through regulated private stablecoins (MiCA), and avoid digital dollarization by offering competitive euro alternatives.
Timeline: A Race Against the Clock
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| GENIUS Act signed (USA) | July 2025 |
| ECB explores public blockchains (FT) | August 2025 |
| ECB Governing Council new mandate | October 2025 |
| Qivalis consortium formed (10 banks) | December 2025 |
| European Parliament backs online+offline digital euro | February 2026 |
| Qivalis stablecoin launch planned | H2 2026 |
| Digital euro legislation expected | 2026 |
| ECB digital euro pilot phase | Mid-2027 |
| First digital euro transactions | ~2029 |
On February 10, 2026, the European Parliament voted in favor of a digital euro functioning both online and offline, rejecting a proposal to limit it to offline use only. This vote brings the project closer to the legislative approval necessary for its issuance.
Conclusion: Europe at a Monetary Crossroads
Europe stands at a decisive crossroads. On one side, the dominance of dollar stablecoins — USDT, USDC — representing 98% of the global market threatens the monetary sovereignty of the eurozone. On the other, the European private sector is mobilizing with concrete initiatives — Qivalis, EURCV, EURC — offering viable alternatives already operational on public blockchains.
The ECB’s exploration of public blockchains like Ethereum is a strong signal of institutional pragmatism. Rather than a traditional centralized CBDC with potential privacy implications, a hybrid model combining central bank money and regulated private stablecoins could offer the best of both worlds: European monetary sovereignty and interoperability with the global crypto ecosystem. The future of the digital euro is being decided now, and Europe can no longer afford to wait.
Sources: Financial Times (August 2025), DL News, Cryptowinrate, Markets Media, CaixaBank/BNP Paribas, ECB, Piero Cipollone, Latham & Watkins, White House, Reuters, Société Générale-FORGE, Ledger Insights, BraveNewCoin, Atlantic Council, Bruegel, IAI.
