Europe needs more stablecoins issued in euros and banks in European Union (EU) countries should explore token deposits, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Friday, according to Reuters.
These statements signal a potential shift in position 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, which are expected to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026, in a bid to counter US dominance in digital payments.
“That’s what we need and that’s what we want.” said Lescure. “I also strongly encourage banks to further explore launching tokenized deposits.”
He also said the relatively low 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 private fiat-issued cryptocurrencies, saying they “have no place on European soil” and pose a threat to “the sovereignty of nations.” And in 2023, La Maire was linked to an EU document revealing the European Commission’s plan to prevent stablecoins from becoming widely used in place of fiat currency.
Most recently, during a live showdown with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong about stablecoins and yields, Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau warned that stablecoins and tokenized private money could accelerate what he called a political threat. “The first threat is the privatization of money and the loss of monetary sovereignty,” he added.
