When will the "second half" of the euro, gold, RMB, and stablecoins come?

Author: Bu Lu Shuo

If someone asks you, "Have you used stablecoins?"

Chances are, the first things that come to mind are USDT and USDC—these USD-pegged stablecoins have almost become synonymous with "stablecoins."

But what if they’re referring to euro stablecoins, gold-backed stablecoins, or even the recently rumored yuan stablecoins? This actually reveals the true landscape of the current stablecoin market: while the U.S. dollar dominates, the world of stablecoins is far more diverse than imagined.

They don’t seek to challenge the dollar’s status but rather serve differentiated needs—some want euro stablecoins to avoid exchange rate fluctuations, others prefer gold-backed stablecoins as safe-haven assets, and still others hope yuan stablecoins will act as a bridge for cross-border payments.

In other words, stablecoins are evolving from a single USD-centric narrative to a more complex global and diversified one.

### Why Focus on Non-USD Stablecoins?

If stablecoins are the "blood" of the crypto world, then USD stablecoins are the core blood type in this system. Over the past five years, USDT and USDC have稳居 the top two positions in the market, nearly monopolizing trading, clearing, and payment processes:

According to CoinGecko data, their combined market capitalization accounts for over 90% of the total stablecoin market—their dominance even exceeds the dollar’s actual share in the global trade system, placing them in an undisputed leading position.

Source: CoinGecko

But demand for stablecoins extends far beyond "dollarization."

In Europe, daily payments, savings, and accounting systems are denominated in euros, so users holding USD stablecoins often bear additional exchange rate risks. In Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian markets, while the dollar remains the dominant currency for international settlements, local residents also need to anchor funds in their own currencies or other safe-haven assets. At a macro level, trends like de-dollarization, regional currency unions, and the financialization of energy and resources have further amplified calls for exploring "non-USD-pegged" stablecoins.

In other words, our discussion of non-USD stablecoins today isn’t because USD stablecoins are flawed, but because the needs of the real world and crypto finance are themselves becoming diversified. These differentiated demands form the market foundation for non-USD stablecoins.

Based on the market practice that "stablecoins can no longer be summarized by a single narrative—their use varies by person and need," imToken has categorized stablecoins into several exploitable subsets (for further reading: *Stablecoin Worldview: How to Build a User-Centric Stablecoin Classification Framework?*).

Among imToken’s stablecoin classification methods, existing practices for non-USD stablecoins (with actual issuance and circulation as the main consideration) primarily include euro stablecoins and gold-backed stablecoins.

Source: Non-USD stablecoins on imToken Web (web.token.im)

### Main Types of Non-USD Stablecoins

In the landscape of non-USD stablecoins, the most practically significant representatives are euro stablecoins.

Currently, the more mainstream products on the market are EURC launched by Circle and EURS by Stasis. Both are pegged 1:1 to the euro and supported by reserves from regulated financial institutions. The target audience for these stablecoins is not global crypto trading users but local European users.

To give a concrete example: if a German investor uses USDT as a trading medium, each conversion from fiat currency to USD stablecoins requires bearing the euro-to-dollar exchange rate risk. However, using euro stablecoins directly allows transactions and settlements to be completed on-chain, completely avoiding exchange rate losses.

As regulatory frameworks like the EU’s MiCA gradually take effect, the compliance and application scenarios of euro stablecoins have become clearer. This means that in the future, euro stablecoins are expected to become the local mainstream currency mapping for European crypto finance. While their current market capitalization is still far smaller than that of USD stablecoins, their growth curve is clearly driven by policy dividends, with the potential for long-term penetration.

Source: Circle

Unlike euro stablecoins, which focus on local settlement convenience, another representative type of non-USD stablecoin is gold-backed stablecoins.

Gold has been the "value anchor" of the global financial system since ancient times. Even half a century after the dollar decoupled from the gold standard, central banks still regard gold as a core foreign exchange reserve. In the crypto space, this traditional safe-haven asset has been brought onto the blockchain through tokenization, with typical examples being PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAU₮).

Their mechanism is relatively straightforward: each token corresponds to one ounce of physical gold, held in custody by institutions (such as vaults in London or Switzerland). Users can transfer these tokens freely between wallets like USDT, use them as collateral in DeFi protocols for lending or yield farming, or redeem physical gold through redemption mechanisms. This combines gold’s traditional safe-haven properties with the high liquidity of blockchain.

Thus, compared to physical gold bars or gold ETFs, the biggest innovation of gold-backed stablecoins lies in "divisibility and liquidity." Traditional gold is often measured in grams or ounces, making small-scale division difficult. While gold ETFs are easy to trade, they rely on financial market clearing. Gold-backed stablecoins break these limitations—they represent real hard assets while being quickly transferable and divisible on-chain as tokens, significantly lowering transaction barriers.

Of course, they are not without flaws. Gold prices themselves fluctuate with the global economy, interest rate environments, and geopolitical risks. Therefore, gold-backed stablecoins do not have the near-absolute price stability of USD stablecoins. However, for those seeking diversified value storage on-chain, they offer an allocation option closer to hard assets.

Overall, euro stablecoins and gold-backed stablecoins represent two distinct logics for non-USD stablecoins: the former emphasizes local convenience and compliant development of regional currencies, while the latter focuses on digitizing traditional safe-haven assets and enhancing their liquidity. Together, they are推动 the narrative of stablecoins from a single "dollar hegemony" to a diversified global currency ecosystem.

### Where Are Non-USD Stablecoins Headed?

From a macro perspective, the rise of non-USD stablecoins will not weaken the dominance of USD stablecoins in the short term. After all, the dollar’s position is deeply entrenched, whether in global settlement for crypto transactions or liquidity support for cross-border clearing.

But this does not mean non-USD stablecoins are meaningless. They are more like supplements and extensions to the existing landscape, exploring new options for diversified currency pegs outside the dollar-dominated financial order.

Take euro stablecoins, for example: their value lies in reducing exchange rate friction for European users. Combined with the implementation of regulatory policies like MiCA, they are expected to become the cornerstone of regional digital finance. Gold-backed stablecoins, by combining traditional safe-haven assets with blockchain liquidity, provide investors with a new tool that balances value storage and flexibility.

In addition, news of yuan stablecoins has recently entered the crypto discourse. While large-scale circulation has not yet been achieved, they have dual drivers of policy promotion and actual demand in cross-border settlements and regional trade settlements. Once integrated with compliant on-chain financial infrastructure, yuan stablecoins could become an important piece in the "de-dollarization" discussion.

However, non-USD stablecoins also face limitations:

- First, insufficient liquidity. Compared to the hundreds of billions in market capitalization of USDT and USDC, non-USD stablecoins generally have limited market value, leading to insufficient secondary market depth and acceptance.

- Second, single application scenarios. Euro stablecoins are mostly confined to Europe, gold-backed stablecoins lean toward value storage, and yuan stablecoins are constrained by policy windows and compliance environments. This means they can hardly become globally universal currencies like USD stablecoins.

But from a long-term perspective, the story of stablecoins is gradually moving toward "multipolarity." USD stablecoins will remain the backbone of crypto finance, while anchored assets like the euro, yuan, and gold will fill market needs in their respective dimensions.

They may not replace the dollar, but they are constantly expanding the boundaries of stablecoins and reshaping the structure and hierarchy of the entire ecosystem. The future of stablecoins may not be about one currency winning, but a pattern where multiple anchored assets coexist and complement each other.

USD stablecoins are a starting point, but by no means the end.

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