According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-denominated stablecoins in Europe, urging banks across the EU to explore the potential of tokenized deposits. This statement marks a significant shift in the French government's approach to digital currencies.
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, aiming to challenge US dominance in the digital payments sector. "This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, also encouraging banks to delve deeper into the launch of tokenized deposits. He noted that the current volume of euro-pegged stablecoins is unsatisfactory compared to those pegged to the US dollar. This stance differs from the previous strict regulatory approach led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who had expressed concerns about the potential threat of privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies to national sovereignty.
More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned about the risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the potential loss of monetary sovereignty.