French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-based stablecoins and encouraged banks in the EU to explore tokenized deposits on Friday, as reported by Reuters. This statement may mark a 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 the digital payments sector. 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 relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones is "unsatisfactory." This stance differs from that of the former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who previously advocated for strict regulations against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, viewing them as a threat to national sovereignty.
More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could pose a threat to monetary sovereignty during a confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.