According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-based stablecoins and encouraged banks in the EU to explore tokenized deposits. This statement marks a potential shift in the stance of the French government and its central bank. Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a group of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, aiming to reduce U.S. dominance in digital payments.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, also urging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits. He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is relatively low compared to dollar-pegged ones, deeming it "not satisfactory." 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 loss of monetary sovereignty.