According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that the European Union needs more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should explore the use of tokenized deposits. This statement marks a potential shift in the French government's and its central bank's approach to digital currencies. 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. I also strongly encourage banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits." He noted that the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar is "not satisfactory." Previously, the French government had taken a strict stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, with former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stating that they had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty.
Additionally, in 2023, Le Maire was linked to an EU document that outlined plans to limit the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for traditional currency. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the loss of monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political threat.