What Is EURC? Circle's Euro Stablecoin Explained

EURC by the numbers (October 2026)

DefiLlama tracked €838.1M of euro stablecoins on 9 October 2026, against $311.5 billion of dollar coins. EURC was €495.9M of that, 59.2%. Société Générale-Forge's EURCV was second at €188.2M. EURC's DefiLlama supply rose from €443.6M a month earlier.

Measure	Value	Source, date
EURC in circulation	€422.4M	Circle, 5 Oct 2026
EURC in circulation	€495.9M	DefiLlama, 9 Oct 2026
Share of euro stablecoins	59.2%	DefiLlama, 9 Oct 2026
Chains tracked	13	DefiLlama
EURC on Stellar	~4.1M (Horizon) / €4.6M (DefiLlama)	9 Oct 2026
All euro stablecoins on Stellar	€22.5M	DefiLlama, 9 Oct 2026

The two circulation figures differ by about €70M, and we could not reconcile them; Circle's own number is the one to rely on for what it has issued. By chain, DefiLlama put EURC on Ethereum at €354.9M, Solana €60.6M, Base €59.6M, Arc €8.1M, Avalanche €5.5M and Stellar €4.6M. For the wider market, see the stablecoin market in 2026.

How to choose

• You need to hold or pay in euros on-chain: EURC has the broadest chain support and the deepest markets of the euro coins.
• You are moving money between euro and dollar users: a USDC/EURC swap does the FX on-chain; check pool depth first, because euro pools are small.
• You want yield on euros: EURC itself pays nothing; lending markets on Stellar paid under 0.25% on supplied EURC in October 2026.
• You are on Stellar and want the largest euro coin there: by DefiLlama's count that is EURCV, not EURC.

What EURC is

EURC is a euro-denominated token that Circle issues against euros received and redeems for euros on request. Circle's white paper says it was first issued by Circle LLC in June 2022, and that Circle Internet Financial Europe SAS has been the sole issuer since 1 July 2024, when it became MiCA-compliant.

Legally, under MiCA, an e-money token is a crypto-asset that keeps a stable value by referencing one official currency, and it is deemed to be electronic money. That brings EURC under the E-Money Directive's framework as amended by MiCA's Title IV. Only a credit institution or an electronic money institution may issue one to the public in the EU, and it must notify a white paper to its regulator. Circle's French entity appears in ESMA's register for both EURC and USDC.

Circle's white paper states that, as of its date, EURC was not a "significant" e-money token under Article 56 of MiCA. Significance is triggered by meeting at least three criteria such as more than 10 million holders or more than €5 billion in value; significant tokens are supervised by the European Banking Authority rather than only the national regulator.

Reserves and redemption — what holders can claim

Circle holds one euro, or an equal value of euro-denominated assets, for each EURC in segregated accounts at regulated financial institutions. MiCA requires at least 30% of those funds in bank deposits and the rest in highly liquid, low-risk euro instruments. Holders can redeem at par at any time, with no redemption fee.

The legal protections come from MiCA itself. Article 49 gives holders a claim on the issuer, requires issuance and redemption at par value, and says redemption "shall not be subject to a fee". Article 54 sets the investment rule for non-significant tokens: "at least 30 % of the funds received is always deposited in separate accounts in credit institutions", and the remainder in "secure, low-risk assets" denominated in the same currency. Circle's white paper adds that the funds "are protected against any recourse by other creditors of Circle SAS", including in insolvency.

Circle's transparency page says a Big Four firm provides monthly third-party assurance that reserves exceed coins in circulation. Circle's white paper does not break down how much sits in bank deposits versus securities, so we cannot give that split. In practice most holders never redeem with Circle directly; they sell on an exchange or swap in a pool, so the market price depends on liquidity as much as on reserves.

Chains — where EURC lives

Circle's EURC page lists Arc, Avalanche, Base, Cronos, Ethereum, Plasma, Solana, Stellar and World Chain. The MiCA white paper, which is older, lists five: Avalanche, Base, Ethereum, Stellar and Solana. Ethereum holds about 72% of DefiLlama's EURC total.

Each listed chain carries native EURC from Circle, so a token on Stellar is backed by the same reserve as one on Ethereum. That is different from a bridged euro coin, which adds bridge risk. For the dollar equivalent, moving USDC onto Stellar is covered in how to bridge USDC to Stellar.

EURC on Stellar — supply and markets

Horizon showed 3.44M EURC in Stellar accounts, 0.67M in smart contracts and a few thousand in classic pools on 9 October 2026, about 4.1M in total across 44,838 trustlines. The issuer is GDHU…TNPP2, home domain circle.com. DefiLlama's Stellar series rose from about €2.3M at the end of October 2025.

Markets for it are small. On 9 October the Aquarius API showed the main USDC/EURC concentrated pool at about $116K and an sUSD/EURC concentrated pool at about $78K. In lending, DefiLlama showed $92K of EURC supplied to Blend's Fixed pool earning 0.22%, and $23.5K in XOXNO's core market. XOXNO's configuration lets EURC be used as collateral at up to 84% LTV in its Stables & FX group, against USDC at 88%.

Two details matter for builders. Chainlink's Stellar Data Feeds include EURC/USD, so contracts can price it from an independent source (see oracles on Stellar). And Stellar has other euro tokens: DefiLlama put Société Générale-Forge's EURCV at €16.8M on Stellar, about four times EURC's figure there. Horizon also lists many look-alike EURC assets from other issuers; check the issuer before you accept one. The other coins on the network are covered in stablecoins on Stellar.

Use cases — what EURC is for

Circle lists real-time FX and DeFi trading, cross-border payments and remittances, holding value in euros, and DeFi borrowing and lending. On-chain data shows the FX and payments uses are the real ones so far; euro lending markets are small and pay little.

• On-chain FX. A USDC/EURC pool is a currency exchange that settles in seconds. Small pools mean price impact on large trades.
• Payments and payroll in euros. Businesses paying euro-zone suppliers or staff can settle without card or correspondent banking rails; see stablecoins for cross-border payments.
• Holding euros outside a bank. Useful where local currency is weak, with the caveat that EURC is not deposit-insured.
• DeFi collateral. Possible on Stellar via XOXNO and Blend, at small scale.

Risks

EURC's risks are issuer and reserve risk, thin liquidity, and the issuer's ability to restrict accounts. MiCA reduces the first through segregation and insolvency protection, but it is not deposit insurance. On Stellar, the issuer's revocable flag is set, so Circle can freeze a trustline.

• Liquidity: euro pools on Stellar hold tens to low hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Redemption access: direct redemption requires passing Circle's AML checks; most holders sell in the market instead.
• FX exposure: for dollar-based users, EURC moves with EUR/USD.
• Protocol risk: any lending or LP use adds smart-contract risk; see DeFi risks.

How these fit together

EURC is the clearest example of a stablecoin built for MiCA: a licensed issuer, par redemption by law, a reserve rule and an interest ban. That makes it the default euro coin for regulated platforms. What it lacks is scale: the whole euro stablecoin market is under €1 billion, and on Stellar EURC is a few million. The regulatory comparison with the US is in MiCA vs the GENIUS Act, and its dollar sibling is compared with Tether in USDC vs USDT.

The takeaway

EURC is a well-regulated euro token with a narrow market. Use it for euro payments and on-chain FX, check pool depth before trading size, and do not expect it to earn anything by itself. On Stellar, confirm the issuer is Circle's GDHU…TNPP2.

Sources: circle.com/eurc (5 Oct 2026) and /transparency; Circle MiCA EURC white paper; Circle press release (1 Jul 2024); Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, Articles 43, 48, 49, 50, 54 and 56 (EUR-Lex); ESMA interim MiCA register (7 Oct 2026); DefiLlama stablecoins and yields APIs (9 Oct 2026); Horizon asset record for Circle's EURC issuer (9 Oct 2026); Aquarius pool API (9 Oct 2026); XOXNO rs-lending-xlm configs/mainnet (9 Oct 2026); Chainlink Stellar feed catalogue.