French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has emphasized the need for more euro-issued stablecoins in Europe, urging banks across the EU to explore the potential of tokenized deposits. According to Reuters, Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including notable institutions such as BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, as they prepare to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the latter half of 2026. This initiative aims to counter the dominance of the US in the digital payments sector. Lescure stated, "This is what we need, and this is what we want." He also encouraged banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits, citing the current low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to their dollar-pegged counterparts as "unsatisfactory." This shift in stance marks a departure from the previous strict regulatory approach led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who had expressed concerns about the impact of privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies on national sovereignty.
More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned about the potential threat of stablecoins and tokenized private money to monetary sovereignty during a discussion with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.