ECB Blocks Euro Stablecoin Push, China Stocks Stagnant as Retail Rotates to Bitcoin
Bitcoin ECB Blocks Euro Stablecoin Push, China Stocks Stagnant as Retail Rotates to Bitcoin The European Central Bank pushed back against a proposal at an informal EU finance ministers meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, urging restraint on plans to widen euro-denominated stablecoin issuance. Policymakers warned that extending central bank-style support to private token issuers could weaken bank deposit stability and complicate monetary policy transmission. ECB President Christine Lagarde led the resistance, arguing that scaled stablecoin adoption would accelerate disintermediation, increase bank funding costs and erode the institutions ability to steer interest rates. The intervention follows a Brussels policy paper that called for easier liquidity rules and possible ECB funding access for euro stablecoin issuers competing with dollar-backed rivals. Central bankers attending the two-day Economic and Financial Affairs Council session openly questioned the idea of positioning the ECB as a lender of last resort for stablecoin firms, an arrangement currently reserved for regulated banks. Officials argued that conferring such support without comparable supervision would create asymmetric risk-taking across the financial system. Lagarde, speaking earlier this month at a separate forum, conceded that euro-denominated tokens could generate additional demand for euro-area safe assets, but maintained that the trade-offs — redemption pressure during stress, weaker policy transmission