French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-issued stablecoins in the European Union, encouraging banks to explore tokenized deposits, as reported by Reuters. This shift in perspective may signal a change in the French government's and its central bank's approach to digital payments.
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. The move aims to counter the dominance of the US in digital payments. Lescure stated, "This is what we need, and this is what we want. I also strongly encourage banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits." He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is "not satisfactory" compared to dollar-pegged ones.
This stance differs from the previous strict regulatory approach against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, which were seen as a threat to national sovereignty. Recently, the Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the loss of monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political threat.