Netherlands-Based Quantoz Launches Stablecoins EURQ, USDQ Amid Regulatory Push

Netherlands-based Quantoz Payments has introduced two Ethereum-based stablecoins, EURQ and USDQ, as it seeks to carve a niche in the competitive stablecoin market by aligning with evolving European regulatory standards.

The new stablecoins will be listed on major cryptocurrency exchanges Bitfinex and Kraken, both of which are investors in Quantoz alongside venture capital firm Fabric Ventures. 

By leveraging partnerships with industry players and emphasizing regulatory alignment, Quantoz is attempting to target opportunities in corporate payments, consumer ecosystems, and cross-border financial infrastructure.

Stablecoin issuer Tether has also backed the company and has provided access to its Hadron asset tokenization infrastructure, Quantoz said in a statement on Monday.

Quantoz’s launch comes on the heels of its October 2023 rollout of EURD, a regulated and programmable digital euro issued on the Algorand blockchain. 

EURD targets corporate treasury management and consumer payment ecosystems, emphasizing programmable and institutional financial operations. 

In contrast, EURQ is designed for broader market adoption, catering to crypto exchanges, cross-border payments, and secondary market applications to enable faster, more cost-effective transactions, it said.

The company also said EURQ and USDQ are fully backed one-to-one by fiat reserves and “highly liquid financial instruments” such as government bonds. 

Those assets are to be managed by an independent foundation under the supervision of the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank, and segregated into tier-1 banks.

CEO Arnoud Star Busmann emphasized the firm’s commitment to regulatory compliance, highlighting that Quantoz invested years in becoming an electronic money institution. 

“We received our license from the Dutch Central Bank a year ago,” he told Decrypt, noting that this licensing process began before the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework came into force.

MiCA, which sets stringent requirements for stablecoin issuers, mandates full fiat reserve backing, prudential safeguards, and a portion of reserves held on balance sheets to mitigate systemic risks. 

Those regulations have prompted compliance challenges for issuers, including a Coinbase stablecoin delisting last month. Conscious of that point, Quantoz said it aims to navigate the EU’s tightening regulatory landscape.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair