ECB Survey: 5% of Euro-Area Consumers Hold Stablecoins

The European Central Bank's Consumer Expectations Survey recorded stablecoin ownership at 5% of euro-area consumers in August 2025, with dollar-denominated tokens leading holdings and broader adoption carrying potential implications for bank deposits and monetary-policy transmission.

The figure represents more than one-third of crypto owners in the currency bloc. Overall crypto ownership stood at 13% of consumers in August 2025, up from 9.8% in November 2024. The survey covered 11 euro-area countries. The 5% reading counts all consumers, while token-specific shares compare holdings only among crypto owners.

Which tokens do consumers hold?

Tether's USDT led with 17% of crypto owners holding it, followed by Circle's USDC at 12% and the euro-denominated EURC at 10%. The dominance of dollar-pegged tokens stands out: two of the three most-held stablecoins settle in a currency the ECB does not issue.

The ECB also estimated that close to 10% of stablecoin owners held balances of €10,000 or more as of November 2025. That estimate measures the distribution among stablecoin holders rather than the share of all consumers holding that amount, and the high-balance figure refers to November while the ownership readings describe August.

Who holds stablecoins?

Foreign-born respondents were 2.1 percentage points more likely than domestic consumers to hold stablecoins. The ECB said the pattern may be consistent with use for cross-border payments or remittances — a use case that competes directly with bank wire services and licensed money-transfer operators.

What does the ECB see as the risk?

The central bank assessed current stablecoin exposure as a limited financial-stability risk at present levels. The concern is scale. Broader adoption, particularly of dollar-denominated stablecoins, could affect bank deposits and the transmission of monetary policy, since funds parked in dollar-pegged tokens sit outside the euro-area banking system.

The ECB flagged two specific vulnerabilities:

• Stablecoins losing their pegs
• Spillovers between crypto markets and traditional finance

Broader use could also affect the role of euro payment instruments, the ECB noted, as dollar-denominated tokens displace euro-settled rails for retail and cross-border transactions.

The survey lands as EU regulators finalize implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, which imposes reserve, redemption and authorization requirements on stablecoin issuers operating in the bloc — a framework that will shape whether EURC and compliant dollar tokens can capture the growth the ECB has now measured.