Overview
- Lagarde, speaking Friday at the Banco de España LatAm Economic Forum in Spain, warned that euro‑pegged coins invite runs and weaken how ECB rate moves reach the real economy.
- She cited USDC’s brief drop to $0.877 during the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse as a clear example of pegs breaking under stress.
- The ECB is steering activity to public rails, with Pontes set to let blockchain trades settle in central bank money from September 2026 and Appia charted to connect tokenised markets by 2028.
- Large lenders are still moving ahead, as the 12‑bank Qivalis venture prepares a MiCA‑regulated euro stablecoin targeted for the second half of 2026.
- Dollar stablecoins dominate at about 98% of supply, with nearly 90% from Tether and Circle, a tilt industry figures say could push Europeans to use dollar tokens unless deep euro liquidity appears on‑chain.