Europe no longer wants to watch the stablecoin market from the sidelines. In Paris, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure clearly pushed for more euro-pegged stablecoins, with a simple idea behind the signal: reducing the continent's dependence on payment infrastructures dominated by the dollar and by non-European players.
In brief
- France is pushing Europe to build its own euro stablecoins.
- Banks are making progress, but demand still remains limited.
- The real objective is to regain control of digital payments.
A monetary offensive that has not yet given its name
The French message is clear. Europe must build its own digital rails if it does not want to let the entire tokenized economy of tomorrow be settled in dollars. This is the crux of the speech made in Paris: euro stablecoins are no longer presented as a crypto gadget, but as a tool of sovereignty.
This shift in the debate changes everything. Until now, stablecoins were mainly seen as useful instruments for crypto trading. Now they fall into another category. They are starting to be treated as a potential building block for payments, the settlement of tokenized assets and, more broadly, monetary competition between blocks.
The pressure also comes from an embarrassing observation. The crypto market remains crushed by dollar-backed tokens, notably Tether, which claims more than $185 billion in circulation. Meanwhile, initiatives in euros remain tiny. The SG-FORGE euro stablecoin had only 107 million euros in circulation.
European banks are moving forward, but without enthusiasm
This is where the file becomes more concrete. A group of European banks, including ING, UniCredit and BNP Paribas, have formed a structure to launch a stablecoin indexed to the euro in the second half of 2026. The project wants to offer a banking and European response to an industry still dominated by issuers linked to the dollar.
But we must not announce a victory before its time. Demand still remains cautious. According to the RBC note relayed by Reuters, two thirds of European banks surveyed believe that the appetite for stablecoins remains limited. In other words, the offer is structured faster than actual use.
This discrepancy is logical. Banks are moving forward because they do not want to miss the turn, not because the general public is already massively demanding euro stablecoins. For the moment, these tokens are mainly of interest to institutions, settlements between financial players and uses linked to tokenization, much more than everyday payments.
The real subject therefore goes beyond crypto. The ECB recalls that a large part of card payments in the euro zone still depends on international schemes, and that there is currently no European digital solution covering the entire zone. In this context, euro stablecoins appear as a piece of a larger puzzle.
This puzzle also includes tokenized deposits and the digital euro. The framework defended by European monetary authorities is clear: for wholesale settlements, central bank money must remain at the heart of the system. Alongside it, well-designed private assets, regulated, governed in Europe and denominated in euros can find their place. France is fully committed to this logic. At the same time, the French government also promised a plan to better protect investors.
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