{"id":8803,"date":"2026-03-08T01:43:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T00:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joapen.com\/blog\/?p=8803"},"modified":"2026-03-08T01:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T00:44:40","slug":"us-stablecoins-vs-digital-euro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joapen.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/08\/us-stablecoins-vs-digital-euro\/","title":{"rendered":"US stablecoins Vs Digital Euro"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US and Europe has regulated their digital assets in different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US, has regulated this space of the market and is enabling private competition to thrive (and die), while Europe is issuing directly the digital euro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US is betting on regulated private competition (through Genius Act ), while Europe issuing directly digital euros, building a sovereign public infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimate purpose? survive,<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Looks like the US is pursuing to keep the dollar dominant, while Europe is looking to protect its financial independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different approaches in their genesis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The US approach enables the Stablecoins to be issued in a faster way (they are available right now), competition for getting big in this new competitive space is making a lot of players (from end-user companies to basic infrastructure) to be investing hard to become a relevant player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have drastically changed their approach, before the approach was different<\/a>: initially the approach was the Fed was going to issue the US Digital Dollar as a CBDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But they have moved fast, some private iniciatives that are there from years and a quick and clear legislation is making US to “move first” fast. Today the stablecoins are mainly used to protect from bear markets in the crypto space, and despite this is a small amount (taking into account the volumes of the monetary base), the USDC is a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europe now has launched 2 projects: Pontes and Appia.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Project Pontes (“bridge”) – short term<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It acts as a technical “bridge” (hence the Latin name Pontes<\/em>) between modern blockchain platforms and the ECB’s traditional settlement system (TARGET Services), they are launching a pilot to be used in Q3 2026. This pilot will allow banks to settle trades of tokenized assets (like digital bonds) using “cash tokens”\u2014a wholesale form of central bank money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Appia (The “Road”) \u2013 Long-term<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Named after the Via Appia<\/em> (the great Roman trade road), this is the ECB\u2019s vision for a complete European Shared Ledger<\/strong>. Instead of just “bridging” old and new systems, Appia aims to create a single, unified digital platform where central bank money, commercial bank money (tokenized deposits), and digital assets all coexist. It is the roadmap for a fully tokenized European capital market.It’s still not clear how this will be done, the launch of a paper is scheduled for mid-2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here again the approach with US is different; in US private companies under Genius Act and Clarity Act can provide that infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some questions to when volumes will gain presence in this space:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In one side of the Atlantic sea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n