According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that the European Union needs more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should investigate tokenized deposits. This statement may mark a shift 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 to counter US dominance in digital payments. "This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure said, also encouraging banks to explore the launch of tokenized deposits further. He noted that the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones is "unsatisfactory." This stance differs from that of former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who previously led a strict regulatory approach against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, viewing them as a threat to national sovereignty.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could pose a threat to monetary sovereignty during a confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.