German securities marketplace Deutsche Börse has partnered with USDC stablecoin issuer Circle to collaborate on stablecoin adoption in Europe.
Deutsche Börse Group and Circle Internet Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate Circle’s stablecoins within Deutsche Börse’s financial market infrastructure, according to a joint announcement on Tuesday.
The collaboration targets Circle’s euro‑pegged EURC (EURC) stablecoin, as well as its dollar‑pegged USDC (USDC), with an initial focus on listing and trading on 360T’s digital exchange 3DX and via Crypto Finance, both part of Deutsche Börse.
The announcement comes amid reports that European authorities are considering a ban on multi‑issuer stablecoins, raising questions about the potential impact on companies like Circle and Paxos.
Collaboration enabled by MiCA
According to the announcement, Circle and Deutsche Börse’s collaboration is enabled by the European Union’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework, which entered into full force in late 2024.
Circle became the first global stablecoin issuer to comply with MiCA rules, its co‑founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire announced in July 2024.
“We’re planning to advance the use of regulated stablecoins across Europe’s market infrastructure — reducing settlement risk, lowering costs, and improving efficiency for banks, asset managers and the wider market,” Allaire said in the announcement, adding:
“As clear rules take hold across Europe, aligning our regulated stablecoins, EURC and USDC, with trusted venues will unlock new products and streamline workflows across trading, settlement, and custody.”
In addition to trading on Deutsche Börse’s 3DX, the partnership aims to enable custody through Deutsche Börse’s post‑trade business Clearstream, leveraging the German entity Crypto Finance as sub‑custodian.
Multi‑issuance stablecoin ban: What is it about?
Circle’s partnership with Deutsche Börse came amid Bloomberg reporting on European authorities considering a ban on multi‑issuance stablecoins, or tokens issued in Europe and overseas under a single brand.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the report suggested that the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), an European Central Bank (ECB)‑linked body for macroprudential oversight, passed a recommendation to ban multi‑issued stablecoins last week.
Related: ING, UniCredit join banks developing euro stablecoin under MiCA
“The ESRB guidance, which was approved by a high‑powered board of central bank governors and EU officials, is not legally binding,” the report said, adding that it would still add pressure to authorities to implement restrictions.
Although European authorities have not issued any formal statements about multi‑issuance ban, a senior Bank of Italy official argued last week that stablecoin multi‑issuance poses multiple risks to the EU, including legal, operational, liquidity issues and more.
Tether’s reason to refuse to comply
While Circle managed to comply with MiCA, Tether — the issuer of USDt (USDT), the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap — explicitly refused to comply with the framework, citing local reserve requirements.
Local companies have been rushing to adopt stablecoins, as some officials admitted that MiCA had a limited impact on the adoption of compliant stablecoins in Europe as of May 2025.
On Tuesday, Société Générale‑Forge, the crypto arm of French Société Générale, announced the deployment of its USD CoinVertible (USDCV) and EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) stablecoins on the decentralized finance protocols, Morpho and Uniswap.
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