Money is changing, and Portugal has already positioned itself. For decades, financial innovation came primarily from the United States. Today, Europe is beginning to write its own chapter. In my view, this is not just a moment of technological innovation—it is a moment of redefining Europe’s role in the global financial system.

There are currently around 200 stablecoins worldwide, in a market worth approximately $320 billion. Almost 60% of that value is concentrated in a single US dollar-pegged stablecoin, Tether (USDT). On the European side, the picture is much more restrained: there are 10 stablecoins pegged to the euro and operating under MiCA. According to the ECB, European currencies account for less than 1% of the global market. It is within this contrast—between the dominance of the dollar and the space yet to be claimed by the euro—that the launch of the first Portuguese stablecoin emerges.

Over the decades, money has undergone profound transformations. From physical to digital, each transition expanded access, reduced costs, and created new possibilities. The next transition, already underway, is toward programmable money, and stablecoins are its infrastructure. Historically, the financial system has lived with a deep duality. While domestic and European transfers have reached a standard of excellence, cross-border payments have remained in a more uncertain paradigm. Sending funds to other geographies continues to be a slow process, requiring a chain of intermediaries that makes it less agile. According to the World Bank in its 2025 report Remittance Prices Worldwide, the global average cost for sending money abroad still sits above 6%, a figure that this new technology aims to drastically reduce.

Today, the true disruption is not creating new money, but making existing money more useful. Stablecoins function as a financial settlement layer—a bridge of trust between regulated institutions, enabling direct settlement without the complexity of traditional intermediaries. By allowing two banks in different geographies to transact value almost instantaneously, this technology reduces operational friction, lowers costs, and enhances predictability. In the near future, programmability will go further, with the tokenization of real-world assets, such as real estate and investment funds, opening up new forms of liquidity and market access.

It is essential to distinguish this innovation from speculative crypto-assets. This is not a volatile asset, but an instrument with a 1:1 parity with official currencies, issued by a supervised banking institution, with reserves fully safeguarded. The next phase of stablecoins will not be defined by fintechs alone, but by their integration with regulated banks. Innovation without trust fails, but trust without innovation becomes irrelevant.

Naturally, the integration of new technologies brings challenges. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) itself warns of the need to ensure interoperability, legal certainty, and solid governance. It is precisely because these challenges are recognized that a bank-led approach becomes so critical, ensuring that innovation takes place within a perimeter of maximum security.

The credibility of this new model will not be defined by the announcement of new stablecoins, but by their real-world usage. Portugal does not have the scale to lead through size—but it has all the conditions to lead through execution. We have internationally recognized technical talent and a growing fintech ecosystem. These assets, combined with the credibility of regulated banking institutions, create unique conditions for this moment.

For the first time in decades, Europe has the opportunity to define global standards in the financial system. The future of money will not only be digital; it will be programmable, regulated, and integrated into the real economy.

This may be one of those rare moments when Portugal does not merely follow the evolution of money—it helps define it.