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France\u2019s finance minister backs bank\u2011issued euro stablecoins and Qivalis\u2019 2026 launch, pivoting policy to keep Europe\u2019s digital rails denominated in euros, not dollars.<\/p>\n
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France\u2019s finance minister Roland Lescure has publicly called for more euro\u2011denominated stablecoins and urged European banks to move ahead with tokenized deposits, signaling a sharp policy pivot in Paris toward bank\u2011issued digital euros. Speaking at a crypto conference in Paris on April 17, Lescure said the current volume of euro\u2011pegged stablecoins versus dollar tokens is \u201cnot satisfactory\u201d and warned that Europe cannot leave its digital payment rails to foreign currencies. His remarks come as the Qivalis alliance of 12 major European banks, including ING, UniCredit, BBVA and BNP Paribas, prepares a MiCA\u2011compliant euro stablecoin for launch in the second half of 2026.finance.<\/p>\n
Lescure told attendees that \u201cEurope need[s] more euro\u2011based stablecoins\u201d and said he \u201cstrongly encourage[s] banks to further explore the launch of tokenised deposits,\u201d framing the projects as tools to strengthen European digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on dollar\u2011pegged tokens. He explicitly endorsed the Qivalis initiative, saying \u201cthat is what we need and that is what we want,\u201d in what is effectively a political green light for the consortium\u2019s plans to issue a euro\u2011pegged stablecoin under the EU\u2019s Markets in Crypto\u2011Assets, or MiCA, framework.<\/p>\n
Qivalis, based in Amsterdam, is working toward regulatory approval from the Dutch central bank and aims to operate as an electronic money institution, with CEO Jan\u2011Oliver Sell calling a native euro stablecoin \u201ca major turning point for digital commerce and financial innovation in Europe.\u201d The group\u2019s stated goal is to become the \u201cinterface between blockchain and the euro\u201d and the default euro token across exchanges, custodians and DeFi platforms, a direct attempt to head off \u201cdigital dollarization\u201d from dollar\u2011linked tokens like USDT and USDC.<\/p>\n
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Lescure\u2019s comments also land against a tougher French line on non\u2011euro stablecoins, with the Bank of France recently calling for stricter limits on foreign stablecoin payments under MiCA to mitigate systemic risk. European regulators have warned that widespread use of non\u2011EU stablecoins inside the bloc could undermine monetary policy, pushing authorities to explore ways of tightening rules on large dollar\u2011based tokens even as they open the door to euro projects.<\/p>\n
The broader European shift is already visible across the banking sector, with euro stablecoin projects moving from \u201ceducation and risk\u2011understanding\u201d into concrete launch preparations as MiCA\u2019s unified regime reduces regulatory uncertainty. For France, backing Qivalis and euro stablecoins is an attempt to ensure that when on\u2011chain settlement volumes rival traditional card networks, it is the euro\u2014rather than the dollar\u2014that anchors European rails, in both payments and tokenized assets.<\/p>\n
Related crypto.news coverage includes a recent story on how stablecoins are tipped to power global settlement, an explainer on what infrastructure companies use to add stablecoin payments, and a regional look at how firms like Stables and Mansa are stitching together Asia\u2019s missing stablecoin rails.<\/p>\n
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France\u2019s finance minister backs bank\u2011issued euro stablecoins and Qivalis\u2019 2026 launch, pivoting policy to keep Europe\u2019s digital rails denominated in euros, not dollars. Summary France\u2019s finance minister Roland Lescure says…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26177,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26176\/revisions\/26177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}