According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that Europe requires more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and EU banks should explore tokenized deposits. This statement suggests a potential shift in the French government's and its central bank's stance.
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 encouraging banks to further explore tokenized deposits. He noted that the relatively small volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones is "not satisfactory." The previous Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, had adopted a strict regulatory stance against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, considering them a threat to national sovereignty. In 2023, Le Maire was linked to an EU document outlining the European Commission's plan to limit the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for fiat currency.
Recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate the loss of monetary sovereignty, framing it as a political threat.