According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has expressed his support for the development of more euro-pegged stablecoins in Europe. He believes that this move is necessary and that banks across the EU should explore the use of tokenized deposits. Lescure's comments signal a possible shift in the French government's policy on digital currencies.
He has expressed his backing for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including notable 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 of this initiative is to counter the dominance of US-based digital payment systems.
Lescure emphasized that the current low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar is "not satisfactory." This stance is in contrast to the previous strict regulatory approach taken by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who had expressed concerns about the potential threat of privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies to national sovereignty. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, also warned about the potential risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.