Digital euro: Germany reveals its plan against the dollar

Europe and the United States, that’s all over. The divorce is being finalized slowly. First the tariffs, then the arguments over Ukraine, and now money. Washington has released the GENIUS Act, a legal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. Berlin understood the message: in ten years, if Europe does not move, its citizens will pay in dollars without even realizing it. The response is being organized.

The crypto currency war has begun, Nagel sounds the alarm

Joachim Nagel, the head of the Bundesbank, is not the type to panic for nothing, even though he learned that the AFD is going to develop a Bitcoin project in Germany. Yet, his speech on February 16 in Frankfurt sounds like a solemn warning. He looks across the Atlantic and sees what is being prepared. The United States has just finalized the GENIUS Act, a text that offers a legal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. Direct consequence: these crypto assets will be able to invade the European market without hindrance.

Nagel warns bluntly. If these dollar stablecoins grow too large, the monetary policy of the eurozone will become a joke. He fears that “ national monetary policy could be severely hampered, not to mention that European sovereignty could be weakened “.

The message is clear. This is not a technocrat’s whim but a matter of pure sovereignty. Germany, the continent’s largest economy, refuses that the future of European payments be written in dollars. Especially as the crypto market is already well underway. Dollar stablecoins weigh 310 billion dollars at the end of 2025. 

Those in euros? Barely 650 million. The balance of power is absurd and time is running out.

Berlin’s dual strategy between CBDC and stablecoins

Faced with this threat, Nagel does not propose a single solution but two, complementary. First, the public sector. The Eurosystem is working tirelessly on the digital euro, a retail CBDC. It will be, he promises, ” the first pan-European digital payment solution, based solely on European infrastructures “. 

A way to regain control over a terrain that has become strategic.

Second, the private sector. And this is where the speech becomes interesting. Nagel is not wary of stablecoins. On the contrary, he encourages them. 

I also see advantages in euro-denominated stablecoins, as they can be used for cross-border payments by individuals and businesses at low cost. 

The vision is clear. The central currency for programmable payments and sovereignty. Private stablecoins for innovation and daily use. Public and private hand in hand. 

His Finance Minister, Lars Klingbeil, reinforces the message on the same day by speaking of a “truly European moment.” We must move fast and together.

The jackpot of stablecoins: 1,100 billion euros to be taken

One question remains: why is this fight worth the candle? The answer is in the numbers and they are dizzying. Today, the euro stablecoin market weighs 650 million euros. A drop in the crypto ocean. But the projections by S&P Global Ratings change everything. By 2030, in an optimistic scenario, this market could explode to 1,100 billion euros. That would represent 4.2% of all eurozone bank deposits.

Even in the agency’s main scenario, it reaches 570 billion euros, or 2.2% of bank deposits. Letting this jackpot slip towards American players would be double punishment. Loss of sovereignty, certainly, but also a colossal loss of value. 

Stablecoins are not a gadget. They are becoming the infrastructure of tomorrow’s payments. Germany has understood this. The question remains whether the rest of Europe will follow quickly enough not to miss the train.

The stablecoin battle in numbers

• 650 million euros: the value of euro stablecoins at the end of 2025;
• 310 billion dollars: that of dollar-backed stablecoins at the same date;
• 570 billion euros: the target market for 2030 according to the main S&P scenario;
• 1,100 billion euros: the maximum potential by 2030 in an optimistic version.

In Joe Biden’s time, Europe and the United States were getting along perfectly. Joint declarations, smiles, hugs. The Trump era changed everything. European leaders now look at Washington with mistrust. They understood one thing: on money as on everything else, they will have to fly on their own wings. The divorce is finalized. The question remains who will keep the children. And the billions.