According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that Europe requires more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should investigate tokenized deposits. This declaration may signify a shift in the French government's and its central bank's perspective. Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, which plans 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.
Lescure emphasized, 'This is what we need, and this is what we want.' He also encouraged banks to explore the launch of tokenized deposits further. The minister described the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones as 'unsatisfactory.' Previously, former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had taken a strict stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, stating they had no place in Europe and threatened national sovereignty. In 2023, Le Maire was linked to an EU document outlining the European Commission's plan to limit the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for fiat currency. Recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty during a confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.