According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-issued stablecoins and encouraged banks in the European Union to explore tokenized deposits. This statement may signify a shift in the French government's and its central bank's policy.
Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including prominent institutions such as BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, which plans to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026. The aim is 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 relatively small compared to dollar-pegged ones, which he finds "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 they had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty. Furthermore, in 2023, Le Maire was linked to an EU document that revealed 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 threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.