According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that Europe requires more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should investigate tokenized deposits. This announcement may signal a shift in the French government's and its central bank's approach. Lescure expressed support for Qivalis, a group of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, aiming to counter US dominance in digital payments. "This is what we need and what we want," Lescure said, also encouraging banks to explore tokenized deposits further.
He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is "not satisfactory" compared to those pegged to the US dollar. Previously, the French government had taken a strict stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, with former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stating they posed a threat to national sovereignty. More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins could lead to the privatization of money and a loss of monetary sovereignty.