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USDCFinnish fintech Membrane Finance announces their new funding round and newly approved license to build the first-ever regulated EUR-based stablecoin in the European Union. The company is granted the FIN-FSA Electronic Money Institution license. This makes Membrane’s product, EUROe, the first regulated EUR-based, full-reserve stablecoin in the EU.
“We’ve been working towards this very goal for the last 18 months. Getting an EU-level license is massive news for both us and the wider European cryptocurrency market and community,” explains Juha Viitala, the CEO and co-founder of Membrane Finance.
EUROe will enable near-instant payments globally for a fraction of the cost of traditional alternatives. EUROe is planned to launch in early 2023, and a waitlist is open.
EUROe is an alternative to the widespread USD-stablecoins, ensuring that not all stablecoin investments will only be made in the US. EUROe takes a fiat Euro and transforms it into a 1:1 pegged digital currency that is transactable on all major blockchains. For users, one EUROe is always one Euro.
Membrane Finance invests a certain percentage of the Fiat reserve in low-risk assets. With favourable interest market development in the EU region, Membrane Finance expects modest deposit interest returns. “We have a strong protectionistic perspective in building EUROe. An EU version must be introduced to the market to compete globally with other currencies. Keeping EUR reserves in the ETA region and preventing reserve cumulation outside the EU is mandatory to keep up with the competition. EUROe will certainly play a role in this,” says Viitala. “On top of this, we believe that regulation is key in legitimising and helping to bring blockchain innovations safely to broader markets. We want to be a transparent actor in the field – there’s nothing more important than trust when it comes to financial systems.”
In a few years, the upcoming EU MiCa regulation will broadly require compliance from various crypto service providers, including stablecoins, and thus will enable broader cooperation with traditional financial service providers. This is also where Membrane Finance is betting on its success.