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ECB rule bending to pressure the Euro
ETF Securities – ECB rule bending to pressure the Euro
Highlights
- Markets have repriced the Euro lower, as the chance for a populist Presidential win from Le Pen’s Front Nationale (FN) has increased in recent weeks.
- The Euro, beset by political uncertainty, has been unable to benefit from the uptick in the underlying economic environment and an improvement in investor positioning in the futures market.
- Although European Central Bank (ECB) quantitative easing (QE) program appears at its limit, the central bank appears ready to deviate from its ‘capital key’ and buy bonds from more heavily indebted nations, in turn putting further pressure on the Euro later in 2017.
Politics repricing the Euro
Analysts have repriced consensus forecasts lower for the EUR/USD during 2017, as political uncertainty threatens to break-up the Eurozone. At the end of 2016, consensus forecasts centred around 1.07 by end Q1 2017, compared to just 1.04 currently. We expect that the Euro should end Q1 around 1.08 as political uncertainty fades.
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The Euro has been battered by political uncertainty and has been unable to benefit from the improvement in the underlying economic environment. The Bloomberg Eurozone Economic Surprise Index suggests that the Euro could, in the absence of the ECB’s QE activities and the current uncertainty surrounding the political environment, be significantly higher against the USD.
Although populism and an increasingly insular voter attitude is a distinct similarity between the US and the Eurozone, the result for the currency could be a stark contrast. After vowing to bring back the French Franc, the potential for FN’s Le Pen to win the French election could prompt the Euro to move to parity against the US Dollar, a contrasting result compared to the US Dollar strength after the Trump Presidential victory. Nonetheless, EUR/USD parity on the back of a Le Pen victory is not our base case.
Economics drives policy differences
There are also other differences on an economic level between the US and Europe: unemployment across the Eurozone remains elevated, and excess spare capacity is likely to keep wage growth muted for some time. With excess labour market capacity, there is unlikely to be the pressure on core inflation that we expect to occur in the US later in 2017.
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However, inflation expectations have been rising on a global basis. The unwind of oil price effects has pushed headline prices higher, even beyond our bullish view and well beyond consensus expectations for the Eurozone. Eurozone inflation reached the highest level since March 2013, and now is in line with the ‘close to or below’ the 2.0% ECB target. Importantly inflation is unlikely to spike above the central bank’s target in coming months, and the ECB will ‘look through recent upturns in headline inflation’.
ECB nearing its limit
While the US Federal Reserve is taking a hawkish approach, the ECB is firmly in accommodative support mode with monetary policy.
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The ECB’s balance sheet has never been larger. However, the ECB is nearing the limit of its QE activities, with growth in its balance sheet fading. However, there are signs that the central bank could move outside the current scope of the asset purchase scheme to once again boost its balance sheet and the Eurozone money supply.
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Although the Euro should benefit if the ECB was able to cease its bond buying without any significant dislocations in interest rate markets by year-end, the potential for fresh policy pressure has weighed on the common currency.
The ECB’s latest Account of the monetary policy meeting noted the potential for the central bank to make ‘limited and temporary deviations’ from its capital key. This suggests the possibility of moving away from a broad GDP based bond buying scheme towards a debt weighted scheme. Such a move would advantage more heavily indebted nations such as Italy, but pressure the Euro in H2 2017.
What are markets pricing?
Futures market positioning has rebounded from extremely depressed levels, but investors remain net short of the Euro. However, the Euro is more depressed than what the historical relationship indicates. In contrast, options market pricing is highlighting the Euro is expected to be the second worst performer against the USD in the G10. Options pricing is the most pessimistic about the Euro’s valuation since June 2016.
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We expect the Euro to strengthen to around 1.08 in coming months as it becomes more apparent that Le Pen’s FN party is unlikely to win the French Presidency. Despite this volatility will remain, and further ECB asset purchases and ‘rule bending’ could see the Euro move back toward current levels in H2 2017.
Important Information
The analyses in the above tables are purely for information purposes. They do not reflect the performance of any ETF Securities’ products . The futures and roll returns are not necessarily investable.
General
This communication has been provided by ETF Securities (UK) Limited (“ETFS UK”) which is authorised and regulated by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”).
This communication is only targeted at qualified or professional investors
Stablecoins are digital currencies tied to assets like the U.S. dollar, offering the price stability needed for payments. They maintain their peg by being backed 1:1 by their underlying fiat currency, with issuers holding equivalent amounts in cash and cash equivalents, making stablecoins a digital representation of those reserves. Their market has doubled to over $235 billion, with daily usage nearly doubling in two years.
Why are stablecoins making headlines now?
Due to their clear product-market fit and growing mainstream adoption, stablecoins have become a top priority for regulation, with both industry leaders and policymakers calling for swift action.
On April 4, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance finally clarified that stablecoins are not securities if backed one-for-one by USD or similar assets and used for payments or value storage. These “Covered Stablecoins” are not marketed as investments, lack profit incentives, and include protections like reserves, making securities law registration unnecessary for issuance or redemption.
The GENIUS Act, introduced in February and advanced by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee in March, marks a major step toward creating a clear legal framework for stablecoin issuance and oversight. This clarity is driving momentum as Fidelity is set to launch its own stablecoin, and Bank of America is preparing to follow it once legislation is finalized.
Globally, the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework has already come into effect, reinforcing a broader shift toward formal integration of stablecoins into traditional finance. These developments reflect a growing consensus that stablecoins are emerging as essential infrastructure for global payments, treasury management, and digital asset adoption.
What are the benefits of stablecoins?
Stablecoins are digital currencies designed for fast, low-cost, and stable transactions. Since their launch in 2014, they’ve become a go-to tool for online payments, especially cross-border transfers. As they’re pegged to stable assets like the U.S. dollar or euro, they avoid the wild price swings seen in other cryptocurrencies.
They’re accessible to anyone with internet, making them especially valuable in regions with high inflation or limited banking access, like Argentina or Turkey.
With some built on public blockchains, stablecoins offer transparency, letting users track transfers and supply in real time. For institutions, they also simplify treasury management by acting as efficient digital cash that can be deployed instantly.
Who are the major players in the stablecoin race?
Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), the two largest stablecoin issuers, collectively hold over $204 billion in U.S. Treasuries, making them the 14th largest holders globally. Their combined treasury holdings surpass those of entire nations, including Norway and Brazil.
USDT leads with $144 billion in circulation; USDC, backed by Coinbase and known for compliance, has become a trusted digital dollar across global finance.
Why stablecoins matter: A revenue engine for blockchains
Stablecoins generate steady revenue for blockchains like Ethereum and Solana by driving transaction fees with each transfer. With trillions in annual volume, they help sustain network activity beyond speculation.
On Ethereum, for example, USDT and USDC transactions are major contributors to daily gas fees. Year to date, Tether ranks #3 and USDC ranks #5 in terms of total gas consumed. Tether and Circle also dominate daily transaction activity on Ethereum, averaging approximately 12 million and 6 million transactions per day, respectively, making them the top two entities on the network by daily transaction count.
Meanwhile, on Solana, stablecoin activity has surged, helping sustain validator rewards and strengthen protocol economics. In addition to the mainstream utility, stablecoins represent reliable, protocol-level cash flow, making them crypto’s killer use case.
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
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