French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-denominated stablecoins and encouraged European banks to explore tokenized deposits on Friday, as reported by Reuters. This shift in stance is reflected in Lescure's 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 to counter US dominance in digital payments. Lescure stated, "That's what we need, and that's what we want." He also urged banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits.
The relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones was deemed "unsatisfactory" by Lescure. This marks a departure from the previous strict regulatory stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, led by former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, who argued that they posed a threat to national sovereignty.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned of the potential threat posed by stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the risk of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.