According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has emphasized the need for a greater number of euro-issued stablecoins, urging EU banks to explore the potential of tokenized deposits. This shift in stance is seen as a significant move within the French government and its central bank. Lescure has expressed support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, aiming to counter US dominance in the digital payments landscape. The minister stated, 'That is what we need and that is what we want,' while also encouraging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits.
Lescure noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is 'not satisfactory' compared to dollar-pegged ones. This development marks a departure from the previous strict regulatory stance against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, as formerly led by Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. Le Maire had emphasized that such currencies 'had no place on European soil' and posed a threat to 'the sovereignty of nations.' More 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.