According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that the European continent requires more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should investigate tokenized deposits. This announcement marks a potential shift in the stance of the French government and its central bank.
Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including notable institutions such as BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, which plan to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the latter half of 2026. The goal of this initiative is to counterbalance U.S. dominance in the digital payments sector.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure emphasized, also encouraging banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits. He described the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the dollar as "unsatisfactory." Previously, former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire led a strict regulatory approach against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, deeming them a threat to national sovereignty. In 2023, Le Maire was associated with an EU document outlining the European Commission's plan to restrict the widespread use of stablecoins as a substitute for traditional currency.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could exacerbate the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty during a confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.