Stablecoins on Stellar: USDC, EURC and the payments rail behind them
If tokenized funds are Stellar’s newest story, stablecoins are its proven one. The network carries one of the deepest benches of fiat-backed tokens in crypto, and — crucially — they’re issued natively rather than bridged in from somewhere else. That distinction matters more than most people realize, and it’s the reason companies like MoneyGram settle real remittances here rather than on a flashier chain. (Stablecoins are a kind of tokenized asset, so if you want the broader issuance mechanics, start with tokenization on Stellar; this page is about the fiat-pegged tokens specifically.)
”Native, not bridged” — and why it matters
When you hold USDC on Stellar, you hold dollars issued directly onto Stellar by Circle, using the network’s own asset model. You are not holding a wrapped IOU that some bridge minted against USDC locked on Ethereum. That’s not a marketing nicety. Bridged tokens add a layer of smart-contract and custodial risk — bridges have been among the most catastrophic failure points in all of crypto. A natively issued, fully reserved stablecoin removes that entire category of risk: the token on Stellar is the real thing, redeemable directly with the issuer.
The lineup
As of mid-2026, the stablecoins issued on Stellar fall into two distinct groups.
Payment stablecoins — fiat-pegged, redeemable 1:1, built to move:
- USDC (Circle) — the dollar workhorse, native on Stellar since 2021.
- EURC (Circle) — the euro counterpart. Because both live on Stellar, the network’s path payments can route a payment in one and deliver the other.
- PYUSD (PayPal) — PayPal’s dollar stablecoin, which arrived on Stellar in 2025 as part of its payments push.
- MGUSD (MoneyGram) — launched June 2026, issued by Bridge with M0’s mint-and-burn smart-contract infrastructure and Fireblocks custody, built specifically to ride MoneyGram’s roughly 500,000-location network.
- Plus regulated currency coins like GYEN and ZUSD (GMO Trust) and AUDD (Novatti).
Yield-bearing / securities — not the same thing, regulation-wise:
- YLDS (Figure) — a yield-bearing dollar token that arrived on Stellar in 2026. Important caveat: it’s a registered security, not a payment stablecoin, with constraints on who can hold and transfer it. Don’t lump it in with USDC.
Why issuers keep choosing Stellar
The pitch is consistent across all of them: settlement in roughly five seconds, fees of a fraction of a cent, a worldwide network of anchors (the regulated on- and off-ramps that convert between physical fiat and tokens), and the same issuer controls — authorization, freeze, clawback — that let a regulated issuer satisfy compliance on a public chain. For moving dollars at scale, that combination is hard to beat.
The proof: MoneyGram’s cash corridor
The clearest evidence that this is real and not theoretical is the MoneyGram partnership. Through 2026 it has rolled out across Latin America — first Colombia, then El Salvador — letting someone receive a USD-denominated balance digitally, hold it as USDC, and walk into a MoneyGram counter to collect physical cash. Stellar does the settlement in the background in seconds; the user never has to understand a word of it.
That loop — cash to digital dollar to cash, settled on a public blockchain in seconds — is the financial-inclusion pitch that the whole industry has made for a decade, finally shipping to people who don’t know or care what a blockchain is. It’s also why Stellar’s stablecoin volumes are grounded in actual remittance flows rather than speculative trading.
The honest trade-offs
- Compliance controls cut both ways. The freeze and clawback that make regulators comfortable also mean a Stellar stablecoin can be frozen. That’s a feature for a regulated dollar and a bug for anyone who wants unstoppable money.
- Peg risk is issuer risk, not Stellar’s. A stablecoin is only as sound as its reserves and its issuer. Stellar settles the token reliably, but it can’t guarantee the dollar behind it — that’s on Circle, PayPal, Bridge, or whoever issued it.
- Trustlines add a little friction. Before holding a Stellar asset you must open a trustline, which reserves a small amount of XLM (0.5 XLM per trustline). Good wallets hide or sponsor this, but it’s a real first-use wrinkle that surprises newcomers.
- Don’t confuse categories. YLDS is a security, not a payment token. The regulatory treatment of these assets differs sharply even though they share the same underlying issuance model.
None of this dents the core point: for moving dollars cheaply and fast, with the controls regulated players need, Stellar’s native stablecoins are among the most genuinely used in crypto.
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Informational only, not financial advice. Stablecoin availability and issuer details change; confirm current status with the issuer before relying on it.
Sources: Circle (USDC/EURC), PayPal (PYUSD), MoneyGram and Bridge (MGUSD launch), Figure (YLDS), GMO Trust and Novatti, and Stellar Development Foundation documentation.
Last updated 2026-06