French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-denominated stablecoins and urged banks in the European Union to explore the use of tokenized deposits, as reported by Reuters. This shift in position may signal a change 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 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 dollar-pegged ones. 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 pose a threat to monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political risk.