Euro Stablecoin Market Analysis: Small Scale but Great Potential

The euro, as the second largest currency in the world, plays a significant role in traditional financial markets. However, in the blockchain field, the market share of euro stablecoins lags far behind that of US dollar stablecoins, accounting for less than 1% of the latter's scale. Nevertheless, with major players like Circle starting to enter the space, this situation is expected to improve. This article will provide an in-depth analysis of several major euro stablecoins, including their issuance mechanisms, market scale, and application scenarios.

EURT: Tether's Euro stablecoin

Despite the controversies surrounding Tether in terms of compliance and transparency, it remains the leader in the stablecoin market. EURT is the euro stablecoin launched by Tether, and its issuance mechanism is similar to that of USDT, supported by actual asset reserves.

As of July 21, the issuance of EURT is approximately 108 million, mainly circulating on the Ethereum network. Data shows that the main holders of EURT include a certain trading platform, two liquidity pools of Curve, the Polygon cross-chain bridge, etc. It is worth noting that the on-chain usage rate of EURT is relatively low, with most held by external accounts.

EUROC: Circle's New Force

As the main competitor of Tether, Circle launched the euro stablecoin EUROC at the end of June this year. Similar to EURT, EUROC claims to be 100% backed by funds held in euro-denominated bank accounts.

Due to the short time since its launch, the issuance of EUROC is currently only around 320,000, most of which is held by unidentified external accounts. In terms of on-chain applications, there is a small amount of EUROC liquidity in a certain DEX.

EURS: STASIS's Early Attempt

EURS is one of the earlier euro stablecoins to enter the market, launched by the STASIS platform in July 2018. Its issuance mechanism is similar to Tether, claiming to be backed by 1:1 reserves and subject to regular audits.

The issuance of EURS is approximately 78.61 million, mainly concentrated on the Ethereum mainnet, with a small amount distributed across other public chains. In terms of application, the liquidity of EURS on a certain DEX accounts for nearly 40%, and another DEX also has a certain share.

agEUR: An Innovative Decentralized Stablecoin

agEUR adopts a novel decentralized issuance mechanism. Users can mint agEUR on a 1:1 basis using supported tokens, while the protocol manages exchange rate risk through hedging agents and liquidity providers. Recently, the Angle protocol also introduced lending functionality, allowing users to collateralize crypto assets to mint agEUR.

The issuance of agEUR is approximately 42.83 million, with its liquidity mainly concentrated on two major DEXs, accounting for over 60% of the total.

ibEUR: Part of the Fixed Forex project

ibEUR is the euro token launched by the Fixed Forex project. Although the total supply is 120 million, the actual circulating amount is only about 10.23 million. ibEUR is mainly used for lending services on Iron Bank and a certain lending platform.

More than 80% of the liquidity of the circulating ibEUR is concentrated in two trading pairs on a certain DEX.

sEUR: Represents Euro in Synthetic Assets

sEUR is a synthetic euro asset on the Synthetix platform. Users can mint sUSD by collateralizing SNX tokens, and then use sUSD to exchange for various synthetic assets including sEUR.

The issuance of sEUR is approximately 7.8 million, with 62.6% of the liquidity concentrated in two trading pairs on a certain DEX.

Summary

The euro stablecoin market, although not large in scale, has the prices of various coins stable around 1 euro. EURT leads with an issuance of 108 million, while EUROC is still in its early stages.

Decentralized stablecoins are more widely used in on-chain applications, primarily concentrated on DEX platforms. Some stablecoins like agEUR and ibEUR can also be used for lending. In contrast, centralized stablecoins such as EURT and EURS are more commonly used in exchanges.

With more participants entering the market, the euro stablecoin is expected to welcome new development opportunities, providing users with more diversified options.