French Finance Minister Roland Lescure publicly backed Qivalis, a euro-pegged stablecoin that EU banks have been building since September 2025. The goal: launch a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin before end of 2026 and give USDT real competition in the crypto market.
What the minister said
Lescure spoke in a pre-recorded video message cited by Reuters. His words were direct: "That is what we need, and that is what we want." He also called on banks to further explore the launch of tokenized deposits.
Lescure described the current ratio of euro stablecoins to dollar ones as "not satisfactory." The numbers back him up: combined market cap of USDC and USDT exceeds $220 billion, while euro equivalents hold fractions of a percent of the market. France wants to fix that imbalance.
Who is building Qivalis
The initiative was launched by several large EU banks. ING is one of the largest financial groups in the Netherlands. UniCredit is one of Italy's biggest banks and a major player across the eurozone. Other participants from various EU countries are also involved.
Qivalis is being built under MiCA, the world's first complete crypto asset regulation law, which came into force in 2024. That means the stablecoin gets legal status in the EU from day one, rather than having to chase regulators after launch.
The dollar monopoly in numbers
Dollar dominance in stablecoins is not just a financial issue. Most transactions in Europe effectively depend on the US financial system and US regulators. That is the concern shared both in France and at the ECB.
Bank of France sets the context
At Davos in January 2026, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau called tokenization and stablecoins the key theme of 2026. At the same time, he opposed yield-bearing stablecoins, arguing that such a mechanism could destabilize the financial system.
The question of stablecoin yield is one of the sharpest debates in regulatory circles right now. The Fed, the ECB, and several US senators hold similar positions.
The US is falling behind
The CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill, is still stalled in the US Senate. The House passed it back in July 2025. In the Senate, the bill is stuck over disagreements on stablecoin yield, tokenized equities, and other contested points.
While US lawmakers argue, France and the EU are moving ahead with their own standards. If Qivalis hits the H2 2026 deadline, it will be the first serious euro competitor to the dollar in crypto. One such precedent could shift the stablecoin balance faster than any negotiations between Washington and Brussels.
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