According to Reuters, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure stated on Friday that the European continent requires more stablecoins pegged to the euro, and that banks within EU nations should investigate the potential of tokenized deposits. This announcement may signal a shift in the position of the French government and its central bank. Lescure expressed his 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, aiming 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 explore the launch of tokenized deposits further.
The relatively low volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to those pegged to the US dollar was deemed "not satisfactory" by Lescure. In contrast to his predecessor, Bruno Le Maire, who spearheaded a strict regulatory approach to privately issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, Lescure's comments suggest a more open stance. Le Maire had previously stated that such cryptocurrencies had no place in Europe and posed a threat to national sovereignty. More recently, the Governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, warned that stablecoins could accelerate the privatization of money and the loss of monetary sovereignty.