According to recent comments made by French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, the European Union needs to see a greater number of stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should investigate the potential of tokenized deposits. This statement was reported by Reuters on Friday.
The comments suggest a possible change in the stance of the French government and its central bank. 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. This move aims to challenge the dominance of the US in the digital payments sector.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, emphasizing his encouragement for banks to explore the launch of tokenized deposits further. He also noted that the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar is "not satisfactory." In the past, the French government has taken a strict stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies.
Former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire previously stated that these currencies "had no place on European soil" and posed a threat to "the sovereignty of nations." Additionally, in 2023, Le Maire was linked to an EU document outlining the European Commission's plan to restrict the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for traditional currency. 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 during a live confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.