According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has emphasized the need for a greater number of euro-issued stablecoins, urging banks across the EU to explore the potential of tokenized deposits. This shift in perspective may signal a change in the French government's approach to digital currencies. Lescure expressed his support for Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks, including prominent institutions such as BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, which plan to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the latter half of 2026.
The move aims 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." He also encouraged banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits, citing the current low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones as "unsatisfactory." This stance marks a departure 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 European sovereignty.
More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned about the potential risks of stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.