French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-based stablecoins in Europe and urged EU banks to explore tokenized deposits, as reported by Reuters. This statement suggests a shift in the French government's and central bank's approach to digital currencies.
Lescure expressed 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 stated, also encouraging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits.
He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is "not satisfactory" compared to those pegged to the US dollar. This stance differs from that of former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who previously advocated for strict regulations against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, citing threats to national sovereignty.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could lead to the privatization of money and a loss of monetary sovereignty.