Can I earn interest on EURC or USDC?

Not from the issuer, or from a crypto-asset service provider in the EU. MiCA's Article 50 bans issuers of e-money tokens, and crypto-asset service providers providing services related to them, from granting interest. Circle's white paper says the reserves can be held in interest-bearing instruments, but holders receive no interest.

The wider picture

The key points from the guide this answer comes from:

  1. EURC and USDC are both issued in the EU by Circle's French e-money institution, under MiCA. The difference is the currency: EURC is redeemable 1:1 for euros, USDC for dollars.
  2. Hold EURC when your income and costs are in euros, so you don't take a dollar exchange rate on every step. Hold USDC when your counterparties pay or want to be paid in dollars.
  3. USDC is far larger and more widely accepted: about $71 billion in circulation against about 434 million EURC. Euro stablecoins as a whole are around 0.3% of the stablecoin market.
  4. Neither pays interest: MiCA bans issuers and crypto-asset service providers from granting interest on e-money tokens.

More questions on this

The full guide

Choose by currency: both come from Circle's French e-money institution under MiCA, but EURC is redeemable for euros and USDC for dollars. Hold EURC if your income and costs are in euros; hold USDC if you deal in dollars or need the liquidity of a token over 100 times larger.

Read EURC vs USDC: when a business should hold euros on chain instead of dollars, with its sources.

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and providers' terms change; check the sources in the guide and take advice on your own situation.

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