The European Securities and Markets Authority found that the euro plays a minor role in crypto markets. Regulators bet that the EU’s crypto regulation, MiCA, may become a “growth driver” for crypto in Europe once implemented. The South Korean won dominates after the US dollar. Since the end of 2020, that market share hasn’t changed much. But the South Korean comes in second place, a new report from European regulators shows. That indicates that European investment in crypto hasn’t jumped since the European Union established its landmark legislation for crypto, known as the Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, or MiCA. Few investors would be surprised to see the US dollar trouncing the euro when it comes to crypto transactions. The euro accounts for just 10% of fiat-to-crypto trading volumes.

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“The euro only plays a minor role, and the announcement of the MiCA regulation has not caused an increase in euro transactions so far,” according to the report from the European Securities and Markets Authority published on Wednesday. And the upshot for the eurozone is that MiCA is due to start going live in phases beginning in June. European regulators are betting that a trailblazing regulatory framework for crypto assets will attract more crypto market activity to the 27-nation bloc. Tracking the fiat currencies used for trading crypto indicates geographic concentration of trading activity. The EU’s crypto rulebook could become a “potential growth driver once implemented in 2024,” the regulators wrote.

Still, the top 10 exchanges handle around 90% of total trading volume, the report finds. That may be because investors switch to the pegged crypto assets to hedge against the high volatility of unpegged assets. Inbar Preiss is a Brussels-based regulation correspondent. “Crypto-asset prices are characterised by highly volatile boom and bust cycles,” the report said. However, stablecoin’s market capitalisation dropped to $130 billion in December 2023 from $190 billion in May 2022 – when the collapse of stablecoin Terra Luna collapsed sending shock waves across crypto markets-. Stablecoins make up more than 60% of all transactions, the report said. OKX, Coinbase, and Bybit follow in the top five.

Binance led the charts with a market share of 49% in 2023, with $3.7 trillion in trading volume that year. But Binance’s market share has steadily declined as US enforcement took actions against exchange, eventually leading to former CEO Changpeng Zhao to plead guilty to money-laundering violations and agree that the company would pay $4.3 billion in fines. Binance’s market share dropped from about 60% in December 2022, after competitor exchange FTX collapsed and declared bankruptcy. Upbit, a leading South Korean crypto exchange, followed with a 7% market share.