France's Finance Chief Endorses Euro-Based Stablecoin to Challenge American Market Control
The nation's top financial official has thrown his support behind the Qivalis project, which commenced in 2025, with the objective of developing a euro-backed stablecoin operating under the MiCA regulatory framework.
France's finance minister, Roland Lescure, has thrown his support behind a European banking consortium's effort to introduce a stablecoin pegged to the euro in 2026, aiming to challenge the dominance of US dollar-backed digital tokens that presently control the marketplace.
Based on a Reuters report published on Friday, Lescure expressed his backing for the Qivalis stablecoin initiative tied to the euro, which was introduced in September 2025 by financial institutions across the European Union, including ING from the Netherlands and Italy's UniCredit.
The consortium of banks aims to develop a stablecoin that adheres to the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulatory structure; the euro stablecoin compliant with MiCA regulations is anticipated to go live during the latter half of 2026.
That is what we need, and that is what we want. I also strongly encourage banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits.
Roland Lescure, France's finance minister
Financial institutions across the European Union are working together to develop a competitive alternative to the stablecoin market currently dominated by the United States, where Tether's USDt (USDT) and Circle's USDC (USDC) hold leading positions. According to CoinMarketCap data from Friday, USDT commanded a market capitalization of approximately $186 billion.
Lescure, who according to reports delivered his remarks via a pre-recorded video message, stated that the comparatively limited volume of stablecoins pegged to the euro in contrast to those pegged to the dollar was "not satisfactory."
During an appearance at the World Economic Forum in January, François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France, indicated that tokenization along with stablecoins would likely become "the name of the game" throughout 2026, emphasizing the advantages that blockchain infrastructure brings to the financial sector.
Nevertheless, he expressed opposition to stablecoins that bear interest, arguing that such instruments could create instability within financial systems, a viewpoint echoed by numerous policymakers from both the EU and US, along with officials from central banks, as the topic of stablecoin yield remains a divisive regulatory matter.
Stablecoin yield is still an issue in US market structure talks
By Friday, members of the United States Senate had yet to reveal any agreement that would enable a cryptocurrency market structure legislative proposal to advance toward a voting session.
The CLARITY Act, representing a crypto market structure legislative measure that secured passage in the United States House of Representatives during July, has encountered delays due to disputes concerning the handling of stablecoin yield, tokenized securities, ethical considerations, and additional matters of concern.