As Europe prepares for the final implementation date of the Marketplace and Cryptoassets Directive (MiCA) by the end of the year, a new euro-backed stablecoin is entering the market.

Schuman Financial, a new cryptocurrency company founded by former Binance executives Martin Bruncko and Eduardo Morrison, has emerged from stealth mode with the launch of a new euro-pegged stablecoin called EURØP.

The launch of EURØP comes after Schuman Financial closed an oversubscribed seed financing round of 7 million euros ($7.36 million) led by Web3 venture capital firm RockawayX in September. Lightspeed Faction, Kraken Ventures, Nexo Ventures, GnosisVC, Delta Blockchain Fund, Renaissance Ambition AG, Bankless Ventures and others participated in the financing round.

Schuman Financial’s first product, EURØP, aims to appeal to global users as a stablecoin pegged to the euro at a 1:1 ratio. Use cases include digital payments, on-chain currency trading, and tokenized real-world assets.

The new stablecoin, backed entirely by cash and cash equivalents, is expected to launch soon. A spokesperson from Schuman Financial stated that EURØP will be active within the next two weeks, although he did not give an exact date.

EURØP, which will initially be available on the Ethereum and Polygon networks, is expected to be listed on all major centralized crypto exchanges in Europe. Schuman Financial stated that it will offer more blockchain and decentralized finance integrations in the coming months.

Although it targets global users, Schuman Financial will not be available in some countries. Countries such as Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and the Russian Federation are completely restricted.

Referring to the list of “high-risk regions”, the company representative stated that this list included 107 countries at the time of writing. The list includes major stablecoin markets such as Türkiye, which had the highest stablecoin purchases relative to gross domestic product in April.

El Salvador, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates are also on the list. The list was compiled based on information from international organizations such as the Financial Action Task Force, the European Union, the United Nations, the Office of Foreign Assets Control and Transparency International.

According to Schuman Financial’s representative, EURØP’s compliance with the MiCA framework was achieved through the company’s acquisition of an electronic money institution through a subsidiary, Salvus SAS.

The French Authority for Prudential Supervision and Resolution (ACPR) has approved Salvus SAS’s electronic money token license, allowing Schuman Financial to issue electronic money tokens legally pegged to any currency on the European market.

With this approval, Schuman Financial aims to create a regulated stablecoin ecosystem that includes banking channels and custody services with major global banks such as Société Générale, as well as integration with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).