According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more euro-issued stablecoins in Europe and encouraged banks to explore tokenized deposits on Friday. This statement may mark a shift in the French government's and its central bank's approach to digital currencies. Lescure expressed 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. "This is what we need and what we want," Lescure said, also urging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits.
He noted that the relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones is "not satisfactory." The French government's previous stance on privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies was more restrictive, with former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stating they had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty. More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the loss of monetary sovereignty.