European Stablecoin — Stability Simulacrum and Banking Choreography of Digital Capture
Nine European banks — ING, UniCredit, SEB, Danske Bank, CaixaBank, KBC, DekaBank, Banca Sella and others — have formed a consortium to launch a euro-denominated stablecoin, regulated by MiCAR and issued by a new entity in the Netherlands, under the supervision of the Dutch Central Bank. It is not a free cryptocurrency and i don’t think it ever will be. It is a regulated instrument. It is not a revolution. It is a simulation of progress.
- 🔗 ING – Nine major European banks join forces to issue stablecoin
- 🔗 CNBC – European banks seize on region's nascent stablecoin market with new launch
Stablecoin promises fast settlements, low costs, programmable payments and interoperability. But all of this is orchestrated inside a banking infrastructure, not outside it. It is a stable currency, but not decentralized. It is a reconfiguration of control, not a liberation.
There are figures who believe that stablecoins can transform the internal processes of financial institutions...hmmm!!! Transform? Or assimilate? When banks talk about “transformation,” they’re not talking about liberation, they’re talking about optimizing control.
MiCAR, while presented as a clear framework, functions as a purification ritual — it removes ambiguity, but also freedom. Its first iteration is conservative, and interpretations vary across states. Instead of opening up the crypto space, it seems to be domesticating it. It’s transforming it into a regulated setting, with banks playing the role of guardians of stability.
The banking consortium is not a co-creation network. It’s a control alliance. It’s a financial fraternity that extends its influence under the guise of innovation. But no, ...it’s all under a macabre umbrella. It doesn’t invite crypto communities. It doesn’t offer digital sovereignty. It offers infrastructure, but with closed nodes. It offers wallets, but with bank custody. It offers programmability, but with imposed parameters...for what??
“The beauty of cryptocurrencies has been understood by financial institutions.” — Richard Teng, CEO of Binance.
Beauty? Or potential for capture? When Amazon, Chase, and Fidelity launch stablecoins, they do so not out of admiration for freedom, but out of a need to control the infrastructure of the future.
The beauty of cryptocurrencies, as the Binance CEO describes it, is being reinterpreted. Not as an ethos, but as potential for capture. Blockchain is no longer a free network. It becomes a backbone for a rebranded banking system. It is used for efficiency, not autonomy.
The European stablecoin is a sham. A well-regulated facade that mimics decentralization, but serves old structures. It is nothing to celebrate. It is just a cold observation: banks no longer try to understand crypto. They are rewriting it. They are wrapping it in regulations, tying it to the euro, locking it into their infrastructure. It all seems new, but it is the same story: control is shifting, not disappearing.
And maybe there's nothing more to say. Just observe how the scenery changes, but the direction remains. Still - What does decentralization mean when the infrastructure is banking, the nodes are closed and programmability comes with imposed parameters?