Lagarde's recent firmness, willing to watch the euro stablecoin share stay at 0.3% rather than loosen, highlights the real difficulty in balancing digital sovereignty and liquidity.

The European Central Bank refuses to relax regulations on euro stablecoins, citing that related measures pose excessive risks and could harm financial stability and the transmission of monetary policy. Bruegel proposed at an informal EU finance ministers' meeting in Nicosia to reduce issuer liquidity requirements and, if necessary, allow ECB funding support to counteract dollar-dominated stablecoins and avoid digital dollarization; however, several central bank officials, led by Lagarde, strongly oppose this, fearing that stablecoins could destabilize deposits, increase financing costs, weaken lending, and interfere with interest rate regulation. The EU continues to regulate under MiCAR, while the GENIUS Act in the United States is moving toward more lenient policies in 2025. The euro stablecoin accounts for only 0.3% of the global market share, and Europe is also promoting a digital euro to enhance payment sovereignty.