French Minister Calls for Development of Euro Stablecoins
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure has called for increased development of euro-linked stablecoins and urged banks to explore tokenized deposits.
Speaking at a crypto conference in Paris, he said the volume of euro-linked stablecoins remains significantly lower than that of dollar-linked equivalents, describing the situation as “unsatisfactory”.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by being backed by traditional currencies. Banks worldwide are experimenting with them, with several institutions also testing the technology jointly.
Europe should strengthen its position in this area, Lescure said. He pointed to an initiative by a group of 10 European banks, including ING, UniCredit and BNP Paribas, which plan to launch a euro-linked stablecoin in the second half of 2026. “This is what we need and what we want,” he said.
The world’s largest stablecoin, Tether, has more than $185bn in circulation, while Societe Generale’s euro-denominated stablecoin has about €107m ($116m).