European Union to Regulate Stablecoins, Not Issue Its Own: Source

The European Union is taking a closer look at how to regulate stablecoins, but has no plans to issue one of its own.

A group within the EU presidency is working on a draft political declaration regarding the regulation of stablecoins, an individual familiar with the matter told CoinDesk.

First reported by Reuters, the declaration will say the EU should regulate stablecoins in particular.

The source pushed back on claims that the declaration would urge the EU to create a cryptocurrency of its own.

"This is a rather short declaration that is about the EU position on how to handle those new types of cryptocurrencies," the source told CoinDesk.

The declaration is being developed in response to Libra, the global stablecoin project introduced by Facebook in June.

The declaration does not specifically recommend that the EU should develop its own cryptocurrency in response to Libra, however.

CoinDesk's source explained that developing its own cryptocurrency is one possible option for the EU that the declaration says "Should be explored."

The source clarified that they could not speak to what the final version of the declaration would look like.

The declaration is expected to be adopted by the EU on Dec. 5, at the finance ministers' next meeting, the source said.