Tiny Euro-Pegged Stablecoin Surges 200% on Binance Before Exchange Halts Trading Due to ‘Abnormal Volatility’

The anchored euro (AEUR) stablecoin, which is supposedly pegged to 1 euro, surged nearly 200% Tuesday on Binance after being listed on the crypto exchange yesterday.

The AEUR-USDT pair was trading at around $1.08 for the most part of the day, roughly in line with the EUR-USD exchange rate at the time, Binance trading data shows. The token started to rise sharply at around 17:45 UTC with high volumes, hitting a high of $3.25.

The platform suspended trading with the token due to “abnormal volatility,” Binance later said in an X (formerly Twitter) post.

The token’s order book – aggregating traders’ buy and sell orders – on Binance shows that the last trade was executed at 18:31 UTC at around $2.89, still 167% higher than its intended value.

AEUR is issued by Switzerland-based Anchored Coins, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore investor and former parliament member Calvin Cheng, according to a press release from earlier this year. The token’s value is supposed to be backed by euro fiat assets and has a market capitalization of $5 million, the project’s website shows.

There was no apparent reason for the unusual price surge. However, the token’s low market cap and limited liquidity in theory could make it more vulnerable to de-pegging by potential price manipulation.

The event underscores that stablecoins are prone to periods of price instability on exchanges. Large-cap fiat-backed stablecoins de-pegged in more than 600 instances this year, Moody’s Analytics reported last month.