Originally by the author: Bluru Says
Reprinted from: Luke, Mars Finance
If someone asks you if you have used stablecoins?
You will likely first think of USDT and USDC — these stablecoins pegged to the dollar have almost become synonymous with 'stablecoins'.
But what if the other party mentions euro stablecoins, gold stablecoins, or even the newly rumored renminbi stablecoin? This actually reveals the true picture of the current stablecoin market, where, although the dollar is dominant, the world of stablecoins is much more diverse than imagined.
They do not attempt to challenge the dollar's position but serve differentiated needs — some wish to use euro stablecoins to avoid exchange rate fluctuations, some prefer gold stablecoins as a hedge asset, and others look forward to renminbi stablecoins becoming a bridge for cross-border payments.
In other words, stablecoins are moving from a singular dollar narrative to a more complex global diversified narrative.
Why pay attention to non-dollar stablecoins?
If stablecoins are the 'blood' of the crypto world, then dollar stablecoins are the core blood type in this system. Over the past five years, USDT and USDC have consistently occupied the top two spots in the market, almost monopolizing the trading, clearing, and payment processes.
According to CoinGecko data, the combined market value of the two accounts for over 90% of the total stablecoin market, and their status even surpasses the actual share of the dollar in the global trade system, forming an undisputed dominant pattern.
But the demand for stablecoins goes far beyond 'dollarization'.
In Europe, daily payments, savings, and accounting systems are denominated in euros. Users holding dollar stablecoins often need to bear additional exchange rate fluctuations. In the Middle East or Southeast Asian markets, while the dollar remains the dominant currency for international settlement, local residents also have the need to anchor their funds in local currency or other hedge assets. On a macro level, trends such as de-dollarization, regional currency alliances, and financialization of energy and resources further elevate the exploration of 'non-dollar anchored' stablecoins.
In other words, our discussion on non-dollar stablecoins today is not due to problems with dollar stablecoins, but because the demand in the real world and crypto finance itself is diversifying. These differentiated demands constitute the market foundation for non-dollar 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 also categorized stablecoins into multiple exploratory subsets.
According to imToken's classification method for stablecoins, non-dollar stablecoins currently include euro stablecoins and gold stablecoins based on existing practices (with actual issuance and circulation as the main consideration).
Source: imToken Web (web.token.im) on non-dollar stablecoins
Main types of non-dollar stablecoins
In the landscape of non-dollar stablecoins, the most pragmatically meaningful representatives are euro stablecoins.
Currently, the more mainstream products on the market are Circle's EURC and Stasis's EURS, both pegged to the euro at a 1:1 ratio, supported by reserves from regulated financial institutions. The target audience for these stablecoins is not global crypto trading users, but local European users.
For example, if a German investor uses USDT as a trading medium, then each exchange from fiat currency to dollar stablecoin incurs exchange rate risk between euro and dollar. However, if they use euro stablecoin directly, they can complete transactions and settlements on-chain, completely avoiding exchange rate losses.
With the gradual implementation of regulatory frameworks like the EU MiCA, the compliance and application scenarios of euro stablecoins are becoming clearer, indicating that in the future, euro stablecoins are expected to become the local mainstream currency mapping of European crypto finance. Although its current market value is still far less than that of dollar stablecoins, the growth curve is clearly driven by policy dividends, making long-term penetration possible.
Source: Circle
Unlike the logic of local settlement convenience belonging to euro stablecoins, another representative type of non-dollar stablecoins is gold stablecoins.
Gold has historically been the 'value anchor' of the global financial system. Even though the dollar has decoupled from the gold standard for over half a century, central banks still regard gold as a core foreign exchange reserve. In the crypto space, this traditional hedge asset has also been tokenized, with typical representatives being PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether Gold (XAU₮).
Their mechanisms are relatively straightforward; each token corresponds to one ounce of physical gold, stored by custodians (such as London or Swiss vaults). Users can freely transfer these tokens between wallets like holding USDT, participate in lending or yield farming in DeFi protocols using them as collateral, or redeem physical gold through a redemption mechanism. This way, the traditional hedging attributes of gold are combined with the high liquidity of blockchain.
Therefore, compared to physical gold bars or gold ETFs, the biggest innovation of gold stablecoins lies in 'divisibility and liquidity'. Traditional gold is measured in grams or ounces, making it difficult to divide into smaller amounts; while gold ETFs are convenient for trading, they rely on financial market clearing. Gold stablecoins break through these limitations — they can represent real hard assets and can be quickly transferred and split on-chain in token form, greatly lowering the transaction threshold.
Of course, it is not without its flaws; gold prices themselves are subject to fluctuations in the global economy, interest rate environment, and geopolitical risks. Therefore, gold stablecoins do not possess the nearly absolute price stability of dollar stablecoins. However, for those seeking diversified value storage on-chain, it offers a more hard asset-like allocation option.
Overall, euro stablecoins and gold stablecoins represent two distinct logics of non-dollar stablecoins: the former emphasizes local convenience and compliant development of regional currencies, while the latter emphasizes the digitization of traditional hedge assets and enhancement of liquidity. Together, they drive the narrative of stablecoins from a singular 'dollar hegemony' to a diversified global currency ecosystem.
What is the future for non-dollar stablecoins?
From a macro perspective, the rise of non-dollar stablecoins will not weaken the dominant position of dollar stablecoins in the short term. After all, whether it is global settlement in crypto trading or the liquidity support of cross-border clearing, the dollar's status is deeply rooted.
But this does not mean that non-dollar stablecoins are meaningless; they are more like a supplement and expansion to the existing structure, exploring new options for multi-currency anchoring outside the dollar-dominated financial order.
Taking euro stablecoins as an example, their value lies in reducing exchange rate frictions for European users, and with the implementation of regulatory policies like MiCA, they are expected to become the cornerstone of regional digital finance. Gold stablecoins, on the other hand, offer investors a new tool that combines value storage with flexibility by integrating traditional hedge assets with blockchain liquidity.
In addition, reports have emerged recently about the renminbi stablecoin gradually entering the crypto context. Although it has not yet formed large-scale circulation, it possesses dual driving forces of policy promotion and actual demand in cross-border settlement and regional trade settlements. Once combined with compliant on-chain financial infrastructure, the renminbi stablecoin could become an important chip under the theme of 'de-dollarization'.
However, non-dollar stablecoins also face limitations:
First, there is insufficient liquidity; compared to the hundreds of billions in scale of USDT and USDC, non-dollar stablecoins generally have limited market value, leading to insufficient depth and acceptance in the secondary market.
Secondly, the application scenarios are singular; euro stablecoins are more limited to Europe, gold stablecoins are more geared towards value storage, and renminbi stablecoins are constrained by policy windows and compliance environments, which means they are unlikely to become universally accepted currencies like dollar stablecoins.
However, from a long-term perspective, the story of stablecoins is gradually moving towards 'multipolarization'. Dollar stablecoins will still be the backbone of crypto finance, while euro, renminbi, gold, and other anchored assets will fill market demands in their respective dimensions.
They may not be able to replace the dollar, but they are continuously broadening the boundaries of stablecoins, reshaping the structure and hierarchy of the entire ecosystem — the future of stablecoins may not be the emergence of a single currency, but a coexistence and mutual complementarity of multiple anchored assets.
Dollar stablecoins are the starting point, but definitely not the endpoint.
