Stablecoins: Innovation, Sovereignty, and Regulatory Battle

Alejandro Martínez · 2026-06-03

Stablecoins are quietly becoming the backbone of digital finance. But here's the big question: who gets to write the rules for tomorrow's money? It's a tug-of-war between fast-moving American players and Europe's carefully built regulatory framework, shaped by MiCA and the digital euro. At a recent FinTech R:Evolution panel called "Stablecoins: Bridging the Gap Between Forecasts and Reality," experts like Stéphanie Cabossioras (SG Forge), Nadia Filali (Caisse des Dépôts), Thomas Jeulin (Flowdesk), and moderator Hubert de Vauplane (Morgan Lewis) dug into the strategic stakes, extraterritoriality risks, and the messy dance of competition and cooperation between banks and big tech. ### Are Stablecoin Volumes Real or Inflated? You might think $33 billion in stablecoins circulating in 2025 means they're everywhere. But according to Visa and BCG reports, most of that volume goes to crypto trading, not actual payments. Flowdesk points out that double-counting is a big culprit. When an asset trades on one platform and settles on another, the same transaction gets counted twice. Plus, MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) strategies let players game execution timing between blocks, pumping up artificial volume. Still, that doesn't mean the infrastructure is fake. About 75% of DeFi transactions involve stablecoins. So even if the numbers are messy, stablecoins are clearly a central cog in the machine. ### The Dollar Dominance Factor SG Forge, one of the few global banks issuing regulated euro and dollar stablecoins under MiCA, adds a geopolitical twist. Dollar dominance in stablecoin markets isn't an accident. Almost all trading pairs are in USD, which naturally funnels activity into dollar-pegged coins like USDC. This bias inflates dollar volumes without necessarily reflecting real economic preference. Euro-denominated markets are smaller but growing on their own, separate track. ### Three Use Cases, Three Speeds Stablecoins aren't one-size-fits-all. They serve three main purposes, each with a different maturity level: - **Crypto trading** – This is the biggest use case today. Stablecoins act like internal reserve currency on crypto exchanges, letting traders stay in the market without touching traditional banking. - **Global payments** – The Caisse des Dépôts describes how multinationals use stablecoins for intra-group payments, bypassing bank hours and settlement delays. If you're managing billions in cash across time zones, being able to move money 24/7, including weekends, is a huge operational win. This is already big in emerging markets. - **Market infrastructure** – Think of stablecoins as settlement tools for tokenized assets or even central bank digital currencies. This is still early, but it's where the real transformation could happen. ### What This Means for the US For US readers, this European debate matters. The US is already the dominant player in stablecoin issuance, with giants like Circle and Coinbase leading the charge. But Europe's MiCA framework is setting global standards that could influence how US regulators approach things. If Europe gets it right, it might force American policymakers to act faster or risk losing influence. The battle isn't just about technology. It's about sovereignty. Who controls the money? Banks, tech companies, or governments? Stablecoins blur those lines, and the outcome will shape how we all pay, save, and invest in the coming decade.