The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2024–2026
Schuman bets MiCA creates euro stablecoins; EURØP wins France's first license
Ex-Binance Europe execs founded Schuman to issue a regulated euro stablecoin; MiCA's Dec 2024 rules let EURØP launch with France's first issuer license.
Schuman Financial
What the business is
Schuman Financial issues EURØP, a euro-backed stablecoin pegged 1:1, licensed by France's ACPR under EU MiCA, for payments, on-chain FX and tokenized assets.
Starting capital：$7.36 million seed led by RockawayX in September 2024; backers included Kraken Ventures, Nexo Ventures, Gnosis VC and Lightspeed Faction.
How it started
Martin Bruncko and a team of ex-Binance Europe executives and EU policy/TradFi veterans founded Schuman Financial in 2024, raised a $7.36M seed led by RockawayX in September, and bet that MiCA's full application on December 30, 2024 would push non-compliant dollar stablecoins out of Europe and open a gap for a licensed euro stablecoin.
What happened
In November 2024 Schuman launched EURØP on Ethereum and Polygon, becoming the first European company to win a stablecoin issuer license in France from ACPR under MiCA. By June 2025 EURØP was live on Fireblocks for institutions, 1:1 backed by reserves at Société Générale with quarterly KPMG audits; by mid-2026 it was listed on Kraken, Bitpanda, Bitvavo and N26 among others.
How it ended up
Still live and expanding as of mid-2026: EURØP remains MiCA-licensed through its French EMI, is integrated across European exchanges and custody infrastructure, and is positioned for the euro stablecoin market that MiCA's full application opened in December 2024.
Background
Schuman Financial is a European fintech that issues EURØP, a euro stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the euro and fully backed by cash and cash equivalents. It was founded in 2024 by former Binance Europe executives, EU policy hands and traditional-finance veterans, with Martin Bruncko as CEO, after raising a $7.36 million seed led by RockawayX.
The founding bet was regulatory: when the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) fully applied on December 30, 2024, non-compliant dollar stablecoins would be pushed out of European exchanges, opening a gap for a licensed euro-native token. Schuman went for the hardest credential first, becoming the first European company to obtain a stablecoin issuer license in France from the ACPR under MiCA.
EURØP launched in November 2024 on Ethereum and Polygon. By June 2025 it was integrated into Fireblocks for institutional clients, backed by reserves at Société Générale with quarterly KPMG audits; by mid-2026 it was live across Kraken, Bitpanda, Bitvavo, SwissBorg, bit2me and N26, with wallet infrastructure from Paris-based DFNS.
What has to be true
- MiCA's full application in December 2024 created a compliance cliff: dollar stablecoins without a European issuer license lost EU distribution, opening a euro-specific gap.
- Euro-denominated finance is roughly a third of the global financial services market, but euro stablecoins were still under 1% of the stablecoin market, so the upside looked large.
- A French EMI license under MiCA extended authorization across the EU and EEA, making one application a whole-continent market entry.
- Founders with Binance Europe and EU policy backgrounds could navigate the license process and knew the distribution channels the token needed.
What can be applied
A new rulebook's first license is the wedge: Schuman won France's first MiCA stablecoin license before distribution existed, so later partners had to treat it as the regulated default.
Aftermath
As of July 2026 Schuman Financial was still issuing EURØP under its French EMI license, with the token live on major European platforms including Kraken, Bitpanda, Bitvavo, SwissBorg, bit2me and N26, reserves at Société Générale, quarterly KPMG audits and DFNS wallet infrastructure. No revenue or issuance-volume figures were public, and the thesis that euro stablecoins would grow from under 1% of the market remained untested at scale — with well-funded competitors, including USDC issuer Circle, also securing MiCA licenses in the same window.
Sources
- Schuman Financial debuts EURØP, a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin
- EURØP Now Available on Fireblocks: A New Era for Euro-Native Institutional Finance
- Announcing Schuman Financial
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