Finnish fintech Membrance launches Euro-based payment network

Finland-based fintech company Membrance Finance launched EUROe on Feb. 2, which claims to be the first EU-regulated stablecoin and payment network, according to the announcement posted on EUROe’s website.

The EUROe operates as a full-reserve stablecoin by transforming a fiat Euro into a 1:1 pegged digital currency, as described in the announcement post. The fiat reserves of the currency are held in a financial institution or a bank located in Europe, with a guarantee from Membrance Finance that these funds won’t be spent.

Membrance Fiance CEO, Juha Viitala, described the project’s purpose by stating:

“We want to bring decentralized finance to the masses and make it as easy as possible for Europeans to use a currency they trust and know.

This launch is the result of two years of hard work to build the most robust regulatory-compliant European payment systems that allow you to leverage innovation in decentralized finance and other emerging technologies,”

The EUROe was granted an Electronic Money Institution license by the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) and is preparing to comply with the expected European MiCA legislation as well.

The protocol currently runs on Ethereum (ETH) and allows users to implement self-executing smart contracts. The project team aims to add support for more blockchains in the future.