European Union officials are accelerating work on a digital euro after the United States enacted the Genius Act, a law that gives legal clarity to dollar-backed stablecoins. Brussels fears the new U.S. regime could give dollar tokens a first-mover advantage in global payments, undermining the euro’s competitiveness. People briefed on the talks told the Financial Times that policymakers are now weighing whether to issue the digital euro as a euro-denominated stablecoin on a public blockchain such as Ethereum or Solana, abandoning earlier plans for a closed, private ledger. A public network could shorten the launch timetable and make the token immediately interoperable with existing crypto infrastructure. A switch to a public chain would represent a major shift in the European Central Bank’s multi-year central-bank-digital-currency initiative, which until now has emphasised tight control over transaction data. Officials say no final decision has been taken, but the U.S. legislation has prompted a strategic rethink aimed at safeguarding the euro’s role in cross-border commerce and payments.