According to recent reports, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure emphasized the need for more stablecoins pegged to the euro, encouraging European banks to explore tokenized deposits. This shift in stance was evident in Lescure's remarks on Friday, as reported by Reuters.
The French government and its central bank may be reevaluating their position on digital currencies. Lescure expressed 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 second half of 2026. This move is seen as an attempt to counter the dominance of the US in digital payments.
"This is what we need, and this is what we want," Lescure stated, also encouraging banks to further investigate the launch of tokenized deposits. The relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar was deemed "unsatisfactory" by Lescure. Previously, the French government had taken a strict stance against privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, with former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire asserting that they had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty. In 2023, Le Maire was linked to a EU document outlining plans to limit the widespread use of stablecoins as a replacement for traditional currency.
More recently, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned of the potential risks associated with stablecoins and tokenized private money, citing the threat of privatization of money and loss of monetary sovereignty.