Quick answer: EURB is a euro stablecoin that German fintech Bitbond and the Munich bank Bankhaus von der Heydt issued on the Stellar network on December 9, 2020. Each token was backed 1:1 by euros held at the bank, and it was the first stablecoin issued directly by a banking institution on Stellar. The point was practical: give tokenized assets a regulated euro to settle against, on-chain.
Updated 07/17/2026. By Jake Claver. Educational content, not investment advice.
Most stablecoin stories start with a crypto company. This one started with a bank founded in 1754. That detail is the whole reason the launch drew attention: a regulated European lender, not a startup treasury, stood behind the euros. The technology came from Bitbond, a Berlin firm working on tokenization and digital-asset custody since 2013.
It is a small, concrete example of the shift the Bank for International Settlements later described in its blueprint for the future monetary system: money and assets represented as programmable tokens on shared ledgers, settled with instruments people already trust.
What EURB actually was
EURB was a euro-denominated token on Stellar, backed one-to-one by euros. The mechanism was deliberately plain: a customer’s fiat transfer was held in escrow at Bankhaus von der Heydt (BVDH), and that deposit triggered issuance of the matching tokens. Redemption burned them. Bitbond built the minting and burning layer into the bank’s existing securitization infrastructure, per the joint announcement.
Because a licensed bank issued it under KYC and regulatory requirements, EURB was not a token you bought on an open exchange. CoinDesk’s coverage made that distinction clear: this was infrastructure for regulated settlement, not a retail trading asset.
Who the three parties were
- Bankhaus von der Heydt: a Munich private bank operating since 1754, historically focused on securitization, fund administration, and structured transactions for institutional clients. It supplied the balance sheet and the banking license.
- Bitbond: a German fintech founded in 2013 specializing in tokenization, digital-asset custody, and on-chain payments. It had already received BaFin approval to issue tokenized bonds on Stellar, so it built and operated EURB’s token layer.
- Stellar Development Foundation: the nonprofit behind the open-source Stellar network, which is designed around issuing and moving asset-backed tokens with fast, low-cost settlement.
Why a bank issued it, in its own words
The people involved framed EURB as a trust product, not a yield play. Bitbond CEO Radoslav Albrecht told CoinDesk that banks “normally wouldn’t feel comfortable” using tokens like tether or USDC because of counterparty risk, which is exactly the gap a bank-issued coin fills. BVDH’s Lukas Weniger added that “the stablecoin is a very sensitive product, and it requires a lot of trust.”
Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon put the network’s interest simply: adding a high-quality, bank-issued euro asset was meaningful for builders who needed a regulated euro to settle against.
What it was built to do
The first stated use case was cross-border payments: SatoshiPay, an early Stellar participant, planned to use EURB inside its DTransfer service for business money transfers. Beyond payments, EURB was meant to settle tokenized securities on a delivery-versus-payment basis, so the asset leg and the cash leg move together on the same ledger. That included tokenized real-estate offerings, where a digital euro on-chain removes the reconciliation gap between the security and its payment.
Why this matters
EURB was a proof point that a regulated bank could issue a fiat-backed token on a public network and keep it inside a compliance perimeter. That is the same design the BIS blueprint argues for: tokenized deposits and assets settling against trusted money, rather than siloed crypto instruments with unclear backing. It also arrived before Europe’s MiCA regulation set formal rules for euro-referenced tokens, so it reads now as an early, bank-led version of what MiCA later tried to standardize.
The corporate story since then is a reminder that infrastructure and issuers are separate questions. A planned 2022 acquisition of Bankhaus von der Heydt by entities tied to BitMEX’s leadership was called off in March 2022, and the bank’s ownership changed hands afterward. Public reporting on EURB’s ongoing circulation is limited, which is worth stating plainly rather than assuming the token is still active.
Common questions
What is EURB?
EURB is a euro stablecoin issued on the Stellar network by Bitbond and Bankhaus von der Heydt in December 2020. Each token was backed one-to-one by euros held at the bank, making it the first stablecoin issued directly by a banking institution on Stellar.
Who issued EURB and when?
Bitbond, a German tokenization and custody fintech, built the token layer, and Bankhaus von der Heydt, a Munich bank operating since 1754, held the backing euros and provided the banking license. It launched on December 9, 2020.
Was EURB available to buy on exchanges?
No. Because a licensed bank issued it under KYC and regulatory requirements, EURB was not openly traded on crypto exchanges. It was intended for regulated settlement of asset transfers, cross-border payments, and tokenized securities rather than retail speculation.
Why did the parties issue a stablecoin on Stellar?
Stellar is built to issue and move asset-backed tokens with fast, low-cost settlement. A regulated euro token gave developers a way to settle tokenized assets on-chain against trusted money instead of relying on third-party stablecoins with counterparty risk.
Is EURB still in use today?
Public reporting on EURB’s current circulation is limited. Bankhaus von der Heydt’s ownership changed after a planned 2022 acquisition tied to BitMEX’s leadership was called off, so its status should be checked against primary sources rather than assumed.
This content is educational only. It is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Check primary sources and speak with a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
