French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said Friday (April 17) that European banks should develop more euro-based stablecoins and tokenized deposits to reduce the continent’s reliance on non-European payment providers, Reuters reported Friday.
In pre-recorded comments delivered at a cryptocurrency conference in Paris, Lescure said that the small volume of euro-pegged stablecoins compared to dollar-pegged ones is “not satisfactory” and that a company formed by a group of European banks to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin later this year is “what we need and that is what we want,” according to the report.
Lescure also said that he strongly encourages banks to consider launching tokenized deposits, and that he supports the European Central Bank’s plan to develop a digital euro, per the report.
Ten of Europe’s biggest banks announced in December 2025 that they formed a company called Qivalis to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin and that the company aims to debut the stablecoin in the second half of 2026.
Quivalis CEO Jan-Oliver Sell said at the time in a press release: “A native euro stablecoin isn’t just about convenience; it’s about monetary autonomy in the digital age.”
European Central Bank (ECB) Executive Board Member Piero Cipollone said in January that Europe must become more self-sufficient in payments as transactions move deeper into digital channels. He added that the ECB’s planned digital euro, alongside wholesale payment initiatives, would give the euro zone the tools it needs “to keep its house in order.”
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It was reported in February that the European Parliament gave its first major endorsement of the digital euro and that this was an important step, because the ECB needs the body’s legislative approval to issue a digital euro and meet its target of a 2029 debut.
The ECB has been working on a digital euro to preserve the role of central bank money as the digital economy grows, and to lessen reliance on non-European payment providers, but the digital euro project has seen pushback from banking groups in places like Germany. Progress has slowed down, with draft legislation on hold for two years, which is much longer than the ECB anticipated.