France's finance minister calls for more euro stablecoins in sign of government policy shift

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

What to know:

• French Finance Minister Roland Lescure called for more euro-denominated stablecoins and urged EU banks to explore tokenized deposits, marking a notable policy shift in Paris.
• Lescure backed Qivalis, a consortium of 12 European banks planning to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026 to counter U.S. dominance in digital payments.
• His stance contrasts with earlier French and EU skepticism toward private stablecoins, which officials had previously warned could threaten monetary sovereignty and lead to the privatization of money.

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."

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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