Spain Leads EURC Retail Use as Small Payments Dominate

Brighty, a crypto banking app, compiled transaction activity for 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 and found Spain led EURC usage on its platform by both count and retail-style activity.

Spain made roughly 36% of EURC transactions on Brighty and about 25% of EURC volume in the period. The average EURC payment in Spain on the app was about €49, driven mainly by small peer-to-peer transfers and everyday spending.

Italy accounted for about 15.5% of EURC transactions and 18% of EURC volume on Brighty. Germany represented roughly 13% of transactions and 19% of volume, with an average payment of about €105. France recorded the largest average payment among Brighty’s top markets, roughly €171 per transaction.

EURC is issued by Circle Internet Financial Europe and is the largest euro-pegged stablecoin by market capitalization, holding roughly 49% of an approximately $887 million euro-pegged stablecoin market. Euro-denominated stablecoins remain small compared with U.S. dollar-pegged tokens such as USDC and Tether’s USDt.

Brighty co-founder Nick Denisenko described Spanish users’ approach to EURC as close to using standard euros on a card, saying, “For Spanish users, EURC functions essentially as a standard euro on a card with no exchange rate friction when transacting against USDC.” He also noted that conversations with major Spanish banks showed relatively high competence among frontline staff, and that Spanish users were early adopters on Brighty and active in stablecoin-based yield features.

Brighty said the combination of early retail adoption, payment-style usage and engagement with local banks has made Spain the clearest early hub for euro stablecoin activity on its platform as Markets in Crypto-Assets rules (MiCA) take effect across the European Union.