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France’s finance minister calls for more euro stablecoins, expresses Qivalis support

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France's finance minister calls for more euro stablecoins, expresses Qivalis support

Europe needs more euro-issued stablecoins and banks across the European Union (EU) countries must explore tokenized deposits, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Friday, according to Reuters.

The statements signal a potential shift in stance within the French government and its central bank.

Lescure expressed support for Qivalis, a group of 12 ​European banks, including BBVA, ING, UniCredit and BNP ​Paribas, that are set to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin ‌in ⁠the second half of 2026, in a move they hope will counter U.S. dominance in digital payments.

“That is what we need and that is ​what we want.” ​Lescure said. “I also strongly encourage banks to further ​explore the launch of tokenised deposits.”

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He also said that the relatively small volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared ​to dollar-pegged ones was “not satisfactory”.

Former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire spearheaded a strict regulatory stance against privately-issued fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies, saying they “had no place on European soil” and were a threat to “the sovereignty of nations.” And in 2023, La Maire was linked to a EU document revealing the European Commission’s plan to halt stablecoins from becoming widely used in place of fiat currency.

More recently, during a live confrontation with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong over stablecoins and yields, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate what he framed as a political threat. “The first threat is privatization of money, and loss of monetary sovereignty,” he added.

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Crypto World

French Finance Minister Backs Euro-Pegged Stablecoins in Response to US

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French Finance Minister Backs Euro-Pegged Stablecoins in Response to US

Roland Lescure, France’s finance minister, backed an initiative by European banks to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in 2026 to compete with US dollar-backed tokens, which currently dominate the market.

According to a Friday Reuters report, Lescure supported the euro-pegged Qivalis stablecoin plan launched in September 2025 by EU banks, including Dutch lender ING and Italy’s UniCredit.

The goal of the banks was to create a stablecoin in compliance with the EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework; the MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin is expected to be launched in the second half of 2026.

“That is ‌what ⁠we need, and that is what we want,” said Lescure, according to Reuters. “I also strongly encourage banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits.”

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EU banks are collaborating to create an alternative to the US-dominated stablecoin market, led by Tether’s USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC). As of Friday, USDT had a market capitalization of about $186 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Related: SocGen brings MiCA-compliant USDCV dollar stablecoin to MetaMask

Lescure, who reportedly made the comments in a pre-recorded message, said the relatively small volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ​ones was “not satisfactory.”

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Speaking at the World Economic Forum in January, Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said that tokenization and stablecoins were likely to be “the name of the game” in 2026, highlighting benefits of blockchain infrastructure for finance.

However, he opposed interest-bearing stablecoins, claiming that they could destabilize financial systems, a criticism shared by several EU and US policy makers, as well as central bank officials, as stablecoin yield continues to be a contentious regulatory topic.

Stablecoin yield is still an issue in US market structure talks

As of Friday, lawmakers in the US Senate had not announced any compromise that would allow a crypto market structure bill to move closer to a vote.

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The CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill that passed in the US House of Representatives in July, has been stalled amid disagreements on how to address stablecoin yield, tokenized equities, ethics and other concerns.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?