TechFlow News, April 17: According to CoinDesk, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure publicly stated on April 17 that Europe needs more euro-denominated stablecoins and strongly encouraged EU banks to explore launching tokenized deposits. Lescure explicitly backed the Qivalis consortium—a group of 12 European banks including BBVA, ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas—which plans to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin in the second half of 2026 to counter U.S. dominance in digital payments.
He also noted that the current scale of euro-pegged stablecoins remains “unsatisfactory” compared to dollar-pegged stablecoins. This statement marks a clear departure from France’s previous stringent regulatory stance: former Finance Minister Le Maire had declared that private stablecoins “have no place in Europe,” and Bank of France Governor Villeroy de Galhau has repeatedly warned of risks related to the privatization of money.
