According to recent statements by French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, the European Union is in need of more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should explore the potential of tokenized deposits. Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, in an effort to challenge the dominance of the US in digital payments.
"This is what we need, and this is 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 relatively small compared to those pegged to the US dollar, describing this as "unsatisfactory." This shift in tone marks a departure from the previous stance of former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who had taken a strict regulatory approach to privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned of the potential risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the threat to monetary sovereignty.