According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-issued stablecoins and encouraged banks in EU countries to explore tokenized deposits on Friday. This marks a potential shift in the French government's and its central bank's attitude towards digital currencies.
Lescure voiced his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including prominent institutions such as BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, which plan to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The goal is to counter the dominance of the US in digital payments.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, also urging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits. He expressed dissatisfaction with the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar. This stance differs from that of former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who previously advocated for strict regulations against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, citing threats to national sovereignty. More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned about the potential risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, including the loss of monetary sovereignty.