Stablecoin ownership reached 5% of euro area consumers in August 2025, accounting for more than a third of those holding crypto-assets, the European Central Bank said in research published Nov. 11.
Current holdings pose limited financial stability risks, but broader adoption could spread shocks to traditional finance, the central bank said. Alexandra Born and seven co-authors presented the findings in “Who holds stablecoins? New evidence on euro area consumer holdings”.
The authors used the central bank’s Consumer Expectations Survey from August and November 2025, drawing on population-weighted data from 11 euro area countries. Stablecoins are crypto-assets designed to maintain a fixed value against a currency or another reference asset.
The share of consumers owning crypto-assets rose from 9.8% in November 2024 to 13% in August 2025, the central bank said. Its estimated stablecoin holdings were concentrated in smaller investments.
Close to 10% of stablecoin owners nevertheless held at least €10,000 in November 2025, the authors estimated. They calculated amounts using self-reported crypto investments and respondents’ descriptions of how much they held in stablecoins.
Dollar-denominated tokens dominated consumers’ stablecoin exposure, the authors found. Among consumers holding crypto-assets, 17% owned USDT, compared with 12% for USDC and 10% for the euro-denominated EURC.
Bitcoin was held by about 63% of crypto owners, followed by ether at 36% and XRP at 22%, the central bank said. Respondents could select several assets, so the shares do not total 100%.
The authors described the survey results as experimental. The August breakdown by asset drew on 1,286 crypto-owning respondents, limiting the number of observations available.
Foreign-born consumers were 2.1 percentage points more likely to hold stablecoins than domestic consumers after accounting for other characteristics, the authors found. They said this was consistent with possible use for cross-border payments or money transfers.
The survey did not directly establish how consumers used their assets, the authors said. Evidence on stablecoins’ use for cross-border payments remains mixed.
Stablecoins represent a small share of consumers’ financial assets and usually sit alongside other crypto holdings, the authors found. They linked that pattern to their main use in crypto trading.
The authors identified possible runs, losses of the tokens’ fixed value and sales of dollar reserve assets as channels for future disruption. Those reserves connect stablecoins to traditional finance.
Wider use of dollar tokens beyond crypto trading could affect banks’ deposit funding and how monetary policy reaches the economy, the authors said. It could also affect the role of euro-denominated payment instruments.
The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation reduces many of these risks, the authors said. They called for continued monitoring of consumer holdings and the channels through which losses could spread.
