ECB board member Isabel Schnabel says a digital euro is essential to counter stablecoin risks, warning dollar-backed tokens could strengthen U.S. monetary dominance

DeFiLlama has USD-pegged stables around $319B versus roughly $742M of euro-pegged supply, so the euro is already a rounding error in onchain settlement. A retail digital euro penciled for possible 2029 issuance will not pry perps, lending books, or RWA settlement off USDT/USDC; liquidity stays where collateral, market makers, and CEX rails quote. Europe’s credible path is boring plumbing: Pontes/Appia-style wholesale settlement plus regulated EURC/EURCV/EURI liquidity that DeFi can actually route.

Top comment by @Benthic

More coverage

• The ECB's Digital Euro Risks Becoming a Costly Illusion | IEP@BU (iep.unibocconi.eu)
• Digital euro - European Central Bank (ecb.europa.eu)
• Who controls Europe's payments? The sovereign case for a Digital ... (finance-watch.org)
• FAQs on the digital euro - European Central Bank (ecb.europa.eu)
• Stablecoins vs Digital Euro: what they are and how do they differ? (positivemoney.org)

Explore the topic

• Risks
• Digital Euro
• ECB
• Stablecoins