According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-based stablecoins and encouraged European banks to explore tokenized deposits. This shift in stance was expressed on Friday, as reported by Reuters. Lescure's support for a euro-pegged stablecoin, set to be launched by a group of 12 European banks including BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, is seen as a move to counter US dominance in the digital payments sector.
The Minister stated, "That is what we need and that is what we want," and further encouraged banks to investigate tokenized deposits. Lescure also expressed dissatisfaction with the current low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar.
This marks a departure from the previous strict regulatory stance against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who viewed them as a threat to national sovereignty. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned of the potential risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.