Interview: OKX's Erald Ghoos on MiCA, dollar dominance and Europe's payment future
Stablecoins are increasingly being positioned as a bridge between crypto and everyday payments, but Europe’s path to adoption is shaped by regulation, dollar dominance and the limits of existing payment systems.The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) offers a common framework across multiple markets, yet compliance rules can also restrict access to widely used tokens.Meanwhile, euro-backed stablecoins remain far smaller than their dollar-backed counterparts, raising questions about Europe’s monetary autonomy and the competitiveness of its digital finance sector.In this interview, Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, discusses how regulation is shaping the market, where stablecoins can offer advantages over traditional payments, and what genuine adoption should look like.He also shares insights into OKX Card usage and the company’s vision for stablecoins in Europe’s financial future.Invezz: Europe is tightening its stablecoin rules just as the industry is trying to expand into payments. Is MiCA making Europe a more attractive market for stablecoin businesses, or is it making the region harder to compete in?Europe has a structural advantage in the fact that one set of regulations covers 30 markets with over 450 million people, and the rules are already in place rather than still being debated.This has the potential to make the European market an attractive proposition for those businesses that are able to meet the regulatory demands and offer a good product.The trouble is that we also need to be able to welcome global competitive services and not consider Europe as a closed market.Europe has to make sure it's globally relevant first instead of stifling it with over-regulation and losing opportunity.For example, the world's biggest stablecoin isn't available in Europe.With no current plans for it to seek a license, many new stablecoins have launched to try and fill that liquidity gap.However, there is still a very long way to go for them to catch up.The challenge for regulators is finding the right balance between consumer protection, consumer choice, and giving businesses the opportunity to compete.What Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, said about AI regulation applies equally here: "There's nothing to regulate if the industry doesn't thrive."Invezz: Europe wants greater monetary and financial autonomy, yet dollar-backed stablecoins dominate the global market. Why has the euro failed to establish a meaningful stablecoin alternative so far?Dollar-backed stablecoins have an incumbent advantage over other currencies.When crypto was first coming to prominence, prices were almost always quoted against the USD value, which has led to higher liquidity attracting further liquidity and driving USD-backed stablecoins to become the de facto standard for how people think about and talk about the price of crypto.However, there is still room for new entrants and stablecoins backed by other currencies, like the euro.A euro-based stablecoin gives advantages to customers who use it as their home currency, for example.It can be much easier to think about your investments and finances if you aren't constantly calculating another exchange rate between deposit and purchase.Anything that reduces friction is generally a good thing. I would like to see more EUR-backed options in the market, and there are some interesting projects that will bring greater choice to Europeans.Invezz: Europe already has increasingly accessible instant bank transfers and established card networks. What specific payment problem do stablecoins solve that existing infrastructure cannot?Stablecoins earn their place where SEPA stops. Sending euros from Paris to Lisbon? An instant transfer does the job.But pay a supplier in Turkey or send money to family outside Europe, and you’re back to correspondent banks, FX spreads, and settlement that stops for the weekend.A stablecoin settles in seconds, even on a Sunday if you need it to.The second problem is closer to home for our customers. More of people’s financial lives now sit on platforms like OKX: crypto, tokenised stocks, stablecoin balances.Spending that money used to mean selling, withdrawing to a bank, and waiting for it to clear.Stablecoins remove that step and become a natural extension for payments when this is your primary financial ecosystem.Invezz: Stablecoin adoption is often measured through transaction volumes and market capitalisation, but these figures do not necessarily tell us how much economic activity is taking place. What metrics should the industry use to distinguish genuine payment adoption from crypto trading and transfers between wallets?Transaction volume and market capitalisation are useful metrics to track overall adoption and use where granular data isn't accessible, for example in P2P payments and direct to wallet remittances, but the industry can go beyond these and focus more on whether stablecoins are being used to buy real goods and services.This can be measured by looking at merchant payment volumes, repeat active users for stablecoin payments, and the transaction context, or what the real-world use case for the payment is.The distinction helps because stablecoin movement is not the same as stablecoin adoption.Real adoption means people and businesses are using stablecoins as a payment instrument, not just as trading liquidity.Invezz: OKX is bringing stablecoins into everyday spending through Mastercard's existing payment network. What has been the biggest obstacle to getting European consumers to adopt the card: regulatory restrictions, customer trust, the complexity of holding stablecoins, or simply a lack of compelling financial incentives?Adoption has faced surprisingly few obstacles. Usage is growing quickly because the card is simple to use and offers a strong value proposition, particularly through Pay Boost, offering 3.5% on idle balances, and cashback.Invezz:What share of your card volume is repeat everyday spending versus users topping up and cashing out?Roughly one-third of card volume, and closer to half of card transactions, now shows recurring weekly purchase behaviour.For example, Germany and Poland lead on everyday, repeat spending.Meanwhile, Dutch users repeat just as often, but they also use the card for bigger one-off purchases, which skews the volume.Invezz: Looking three to five years ahead, what would have to happen for stablecoins to become a significant part of Europe's financial infrastructure rather than simply another way to spend crypto?We’re already seeing crypto and traditional finance move closer together.Crypto platforms are becoming full financial services, and more banks and asset managers are adding crypto to what they offer.For stablecoins to become part of Europe’s financial infrastructure, that convergence needs to keep going, with more banks issuing and holding them and more businesses settling in them.This also means that regulators will need to find the right balance between consumer protection and choice or get left behind by other jurisdictions.I expect it will happen, but the speed of it depends on the regulatory environment.