EUROe

EUROe was a fully EU-regulated euro stablecoin issued by Membrane Finance Oy, a Finnish fintech founded in 2021. It was the first blockchain-based e-money token in Europe to operate under a licensed Electronic Money Institution (EMI) framework, and the only euro stablecoin fully compliant with the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations from day one. The project is no longer active: following Paxos's acquisition of Membrane Finance in early 2025, Paxos decommissioned the EUROe stablecoin business line and placed the token in redemption-only mode.

What EUROe Was

EUROe solved a regulatory gap that plagued the early euro stablecoin market: the absence of a euro-denominated digital asset that was both on-chain and fully licensed under European financial law. Most euro stablecoins at the time operated in grey areas, backed by custodians outside EU jurisdiction or issued by entities without formal e-money authorization.

Membrane Finance addressed this by obtaining an EMI license from the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanssivalvonta). That license carried regulatory passporting rights across all 30 European Economic Area countries, giving EUROe the same legal standing in each member state without requiring separate national approvals. When MiCA's stablecoin provisions came into force on July 1, 2024, EUROe was positioned as one of the few tokens already in compliance.

How It Worked

EUROe maintained a strict 1:1 peg to the euro. User funds were held as 100% bankruptcy-protected cash in European financial institutions, supplemented by 2% CET1 equity capital — a reserve structure designed to meet EMI solvency requirements rather than the softer collateral arrangements common in offshore stablecoins.

Minting and redemption were processed at par with no fees, via the EUROe Account and its associated API. Users and businesses could move euros between the SEPA banking system and any supported blockchain through a single API call. The platform also offered automatic treasury balancing, allowing corporate customers to maintain target float levels across both on-chain and traditional accounts simultaneously.

On the smart contract side, EUROe included standard token controls expected in a regulated instrument: an operator could freeze or seize tokens for compliance purposes, and the contract owner could upgrade the implementation. On Ethereum, the token followed an ERC-20 standard with these additional access controls; the open-source contracts are published at github.com/membranefi/euroe-stablecoin.

Solana Integration

Membrane Finance launched EUROe on Solana in mid-2023, making it the first fully EU-regulated euro stablecoin on the network. The token was implemented as a standard SPL token, designed for drop-in compatibility with existing Solana wallets, DEXs, and DeFi applications.

The Solana integration was bundled with a euro-denominated debit card product, allowing users to fund a Visa card directly from their on-chain EUROe balance — a use case that required the regulatory standing Membrane's EMI license provided. At launch, EUROe's multi-chain footprint covered Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum One, Avalanche, and Solana.

Regulatory Context and Competitive Position

EUROe's core competitive claim was its regulatory-first design. In an environment where competing euro stablecoins faced uncertainty about their MiCA compliance status, Membrane Finance had already satisfied the Finnish regulator's requirements for electronic money issuance. The company positioned the token not as a DeFi-native product but as infrastructure connecting European banking rails with on-chain settlement — targeting enterprise treasury operations, cross-border payments, and fintech integrations.

The Finnish EMI structure also gave Membrane Finance something of strategic value independent of EUROe itself: a regulated, passportable EU financial license with proven blockchain applicability. This would become the central reason Paxos pursued the acquisition.

Acquisition and Decommissioning

Paxos announced its intention to acquire Membrane Finance in November 2024, citing the need for an EU regulatory foothold as MiCA reshaped the European stablecoin market. Paxos, which operates USDP and provides stablecoin infrastructure for partners, had no euro-denominated offering and no EU EMI license. Membrane Finance had both.

The acquisition completed on February 4, 2025. Rather than continuing EUROe as a Paxos product, the company chose to decommission it, stating that the stablecoin business line would be wound down as part of consolidating its product portfolio around core institutional offerings.

After the acquisition completed, euroe.com redirected to a Paxos-hosted redemption page at paxos.com/euroe-redemptions. The developer documentation domain (dev.euroe.com) was taken offline entirely. Existing EUROe holders were offered 1:1 redemption for euros via SEPA transfer through a form on the Paxos site; no new minting or transfers were permitted.

Status

EUROe is fully decommissioned. The official domain redirects to Paxos's redemption instructions, and the developer documentation domain is offline. Membrane Finance Oy is now part of Paxos, which uses the acquired EMI license to pursue MiCA-compliant stablecoin operations under its own brand in the EU.