Europe's digital euro geopolitics just got real. On June 23, 2026, the European Parliament voted to advance the digital euro, calling it a geopolitical necessity against US payment dominance. But Tether and Circle already control 90 percent of a 310,000 million dollar stablecoin market. The dollar is already winning by a wide margin.
At SPIEF 2026 in St. Petersburg, Putin warned that any nation can lose access to dollar and euro assets at any moment. Russia and BRICS are building blockchain payment systems to bypass SWIFT. But the BRICS dollar replacement plan faces a major problem: the dollar just hit a 12-year high in global payments.
ECB President Lagarde just admitted Europe is losing the dollar digital dominance war. Tether and Circle control 90% of a $310,000 million stablecoin market — 98% pegged to the U.S. dollar. Trump's GENIUS Act turns every new stablecoin into demand for U.S. Treasury debt. BRICS has no answer. Europe has no plan. America wins again.
