Martin Bruncko: Why euro stablecoins will surpass €100B in market cap

Schuman Financial founder Martin Bruncko says that the rise of euro stablecoins is “inevitable”, as Europe pushes to digitize its financial systems while strongly resisting dollarization.

Speaking at EthCC in Cannes on July 1, Schuman Financial founder Martin Bruncko projected that euro stablecoins will surpass €100 billion in market cap, and potentially reach €1 trillion, despite currently lagging far behind dollar stablecoins.

As more of traditional finance moves on-chain, Brunchko argues, demand for euro-denominated digital assets is inevitable. Stablecoins already settle more than €25 trillion a year, which is more than Visa or Mastercard. Moreover, financial institutions are increasingly exploring blockchain-based payments. Given that euro markets account for roughly a third of global financial activity, Bruncko sees it as inevitable that a significant share of that volume will move to euro stablecoins.

What makes this shift even more likely, according to Bruncko, is Europe’s resistance to dollarization. With MiCA regulations capping the use of non-European stablecoins in payments, and no political appetite to swap the euro for the dollar, a homegrown, euro-pegged digital currency becomes a necessary piece of the financial puzzle.

He summed up his case as follows: “If you believe that financial services are moving on-chain, and that Europe won’t dollarize anytime soon, then you’ll inevitably end up with one or more euro stablecoins — not just a €100 billion market, but likely €1 trillion or more.”

According to Bruncko, the euro stablecoin market is currently in the hundreds of millions compared to nearly $200 billion for dollar-based stablecoins. But he believes that’s due to a lack of high-quality options and real-world use cases.

Schuman Financial, Bruncko’s firm, is aiming to change that with its own euro stablecoin EURØP. Fully licensed in France, EURØP is backed by reserves held at Société Générale — one of Europe’s largest banks — and audited by KPMG. EURØP is already listed on major European exchanges. The firm is also building its own payment stack, including direct integration with SEPA and SWIFT.

As for central bank digital currencies, which are often seen as stablecoins’ more bureaucratic cousins, Bruncko expressed his skepticism, arguing that European governments simply aren’t moving fast enough to roll out a usable digital euro, especially one that crypto-native developers and users would actually adopt. “There’s no way we’ll see a functional, mainstream CBDC in the next 3 to 5 years,” he said.

Bruncko’s talk on euro stablecoins really captured the vibe at EthCC in Cannes, where stablecoins were a hot topic discussed from a variety on angles.

Among other speakers, Zain Cheng from Horizen Labs explored the future of compliant private stablecoins, focusing on how privacy and regulation can be balanced using cryptographic solutions. Tom.base.eth from Base talked about how local currency stablecoins and mini apps empower developers to build global commerce products with instant reach, while Scott Piriou from bitUSD shared insights on designing BTC-backed decentralized stablecoins.