According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that the European Union needs more stablecoins pegged to the euro and that EU banks should explore the use of tokenized deposits. This statement suggests a potential shift in the French government's and central bank's policy. Lescure expressed his 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.
The goal is to counter the dominance of the US in digital payments. Lescure emphasized, "This is what we need, and this is what we want." He also encouraged banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits. The current low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar was deemed "not satisfactory" by Lescure. This stance marks a departure from the previous strict regulatory approach, led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who opposed privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies.
Le Maire had stated that such cryptocurrencies had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty. More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.