According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-based stablecoins in Europe, urging EU banks to explore tokenized deposits. This shift in stance may signal a new direction for the French government and its central bank. Lescure expressed support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in 2026, aiming to counter US dominance in digital payments.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, also encouraging banks to investigate tokenized deposits further. He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is "not satisfactory" compared to dollar-pegged ones. This stance differs from the previous strict regulatory approach led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who opposed privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins could pose a threat to monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political risk. "The first threat is the privatization of money, and the loss of monetary sovereignty," he added.