According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has expressed his support for the development of more euro-pegged stablecoins, emphasizing the need for European banks to explore tokenized deposits. This shift in stance was evident in his comments on Friday, as reported by Reuters. Lescure's remarks signal a potential change in the French government's approach to digital currencies, with the minister voicing his backing for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks aiming to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The goal of this initiative is to counter the dominance of the US in the digital payments sector.
Lescure stated, "This is what we need, and this is what we want," while also encouraging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits. He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is "not satisfactory" compared to those pegged to the US dollar.
This newfound support for stablecoins marks a departure from the previous stance of the French government, which had been more cautious in its approach to privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies. Former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had previously expressed concerns that such currencies posed a threat to the sovereignty of nations, and in 2023, the European Commission had planned to limit the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for traditional fiat currency. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, had warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the loss of monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political threat.