Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, is strengthening its presence in Europe’s stablecoin market with a new investment in Malta-based StablR, the company announced on Dec. 17.
The investment reaffirms Tether’s commitment to the European market in its efforts to support regulated stablecoins as new stablecoins launch in the region.
Operating two stablecoin projects, the euro-based StablR Euro (EURR) and the US dollar-based StablR USD (USDR), StablR will use Tether’s new tokenization platform, Hadron.
Euro-based stablecoins are a $370 million market
The European stablecoin market has experienced many developments in recent months amid the approaching deadline of Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), which is set to take full effect on Dec. 30, 2024.
According to data from Crypto.com, euro-based stablecoins are a $367 million market at the time of writing, with the Stasis Euro (EURS) and the Euro Coin (EURC) representing the biggest stablecoins, with a market cap of $130 million and $90 million, respectively.
Top five euro-based stablecoins by market capitalization. Source: Crypto.com
“The European stablecoin market is rapidly evolving, and it’s poised for significant further growth in line with broader trends,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, adding:
“Tether is proud to support initiatives like StablR that align with our vision for fostering compliance, innovation, and accessibility in the European stablecoin market.”
StablR’s EURR has a $3 million market cap
At the time of Tether’s StablR investment announcement, StablR’s euro-pegged EURR makes up just about 1% of the total market cap of all euro-based stablecoins.
According to CoinMarketCap data, StablR’s EURR has a $3.4 million market capitalization with a total supply of 5.7 million euros ($5.9 million).
StablR’s USD stablecoin, USDR, is not available on crypto data platforms like CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap at the time of writing.
Utilizing Hadron by Tether, EURR and USDR can be seamlessly transferred to any Ethereum or Solana wallet address, the announcement notes.
Deribit backed StablR in a 3.3 million euro round in 2023
Founded in 2023, StablR raised 3.3 million euros ($3.4 million) in a seed round featuring investors, including cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit.
Additional seed round investors included firms like Theta Capital, blockchain patent technology firm Blocktech, the crypto-native fund Maven 11 and the quantitative trading firm Folkvang.
In July 2024, StablR acquired a license to operate as an Electronic Money Institution, which enabled the firm to issue a stablecoin that is fully compliant with new EU stablecoin regulations.
StablR founder and CEO Gijs op de Weegh said that the stablecoin firm has been “laser-focused on delivering unmatched compliance, liquidity, and flexibility for institutions and merchants,” adding:
“With the support of these new investors, that’s exactly what we’re delivering. This is a new era for stablecoins, and StablR is very much at the helm.”
The news comes shortly after major global cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase delisted Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin, citing MiCA regulations.
Magazine: 13 Christmas gifts that Bitcoin and crypto degens will love
