Some of the world’s largest mobile trading platforms are seeing a lot of value in the European stablecoin market, pursuing a stronger foothold in the sector as it enters a new regulatory era.
Robinhood and eToro are two such examples, with the duo being among the most well-known and widely used e-trading platforms. The former is the market leader in the US but has been building up its European profile, while the eToro is an established player in Europe.
A key driving force behind these ambitions is the adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations in the EU. Observant stakeholders believe that this levelling out of regulations across the EU’s 27 member states have made the stablecoin sector ripe for the picking.
“I think stablecoins have shown there is a lot of value,” Robinhood’s Crypto GM, Johann Kerbrat, tells Payment Expert. “They are 24/7, there is no risk of reversals, and the cost of sending stable, depending on the chain, is extremely cheap and so make it a very attractive system.
“Now there is a framework for stable under MiCA for EMIs to issue, I think we’ll start seeing a lot more usage both under the micropayment side of things but also for institutions using it to move funds a bit more seamlessly.”
Making the most out of MiCA
MiCA first came into force in June 2023 but as with most major financial regulations, and especially ones relating to the constantly evolving and often volatile cryptocurrency space, implementation has taken its time.
The regulations became fully applicable in December 2024, but companies have been preparing for and in some cases eagerly anticipating the regulation for way before then. The prospect that MiCA could enable other issuers to challenge the dominance Tether and its USDT coin have had over the market was widely noted.
In a notable development last week, the first 10 stablecoin issuers under the MiCA regulations were announced – but Tether was left out, with the approved companies being Banking Circle, Circle, Crypto.Com, Fiat Republic, Membrane Finance, Quantoz Payments, Schuman Financial, Societe Generale, StabIR and Stable Mint.
Opportunities do not just extend to stablecoin issuers, however. As stated above, trading platforms like Robinhood and eToro are keen to get in on the action, with the latter receiving regulatory approval to offer its crypto services throughout the EU.
The company has secured approval from the Cyprus Securities Exchange Commission (CySEC). All it has to do now is submit ‘relevant notification’ to all EU member states, after which it can significantly expand its footprint in European crypto.
“We welcome the introduction of MiCA and are proud that with the grant by CySEC of our permit we are able to provide cryptoasset services to our users across the EU,” said Avi Sela, Chief Operating Officer – Regulation at eToro.
“We believe that the regulatory clarity and uniform market rules provided by MiCA will foster greater crypto adoption across Europe while ensuring consumers are fully aware of any associated risks.”
With more stablecoin issuers set to up their presence across the EU, more opportunities for stablecoin trading will likely present themselves. This domino effect could see different trading platforms compete for the number one stablecoin trading spot.
Robinhood, an American firm, has been expanding its presence in Europe in recent years, both in and outside of the crypto space.
In the field of traditional finance, for example, it finally launched in the UK last year after calling off two previous attempts, and expanded its offering to British users earlier this month with the addition of options trading.
Crypto trading now forms a core part of Robinhood’s product too, as Kerbrat explains to Payment Expert. The company’s interest in the EU’s post-MiCA crypto landscape has materialised into actions too, with Robinhood Crypto launching in Spain in December 2024.
In an even more significant development, earlier in 2024 the company joined several other firms, including Canadian payments provider Nuvei, CoinDesk-owner Bullish and American crypto exchange Kraken, in a new USD-pegged stabling initiative focused on regulated markets – the Global Dollar (USDG).
“We’ve started to see a lot of adoption for stable in the past couple of years even though there wasn’t clear regulation, and now we’ve got the regulation coming you’ll see institutions adopting it more,” Kerbrat continues.
“That’s why we joined the USDG consortium, because we do think that stable are an important block for building on blockchain. We don’t have any plans to do anything with stable in the EU, we don’t have a specific licence here or anything like that, but we do support USDG on Robinhood already and we see a lot of people transferring in and out of the platform using stable.”
With regulation now coming into effect in the EU, companies like Robinhood expect stablecoin adoption among consumers and financial institutions to rise, and in turn opportunities for engagement and trading to rise as well.
Trading data already suggests a healthy appetite for stablecoins. In fact, while cryptocurrencies have been seeing some significant declines in value in recent weeks, stablecoins are a notable outlier – though like all things relating to the often volatile world of crypto, anything can change….
