France pushes Europe to respond with euro stablecoins

Europe no longer wants to watch the stablecoin market from the sidelines. In Paris, French Finance Minister Roland Lescure clearly pushed for more stablecoins pegged to the euro, with a simple idea behind this signal: to reduce the continent’s dependence on payment infrastructures dominated by the dollar and by non-European actors.

A monetary offensive that does not yet name itself

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 settle in dollars. This is the core of the speech delivered in Paris: euro stablecoins are no longer presented as a crypto gadget, but as a tool of sovereignty.

This shift in debate changes everything. Until now, stablecoins were mainly seen as instruments useful for crypto trading. Now, they enter 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 blocs.

The pressure also comes from an embarrassing fact. The crypto market remains dominated by tokens backed by the dollar, notably Tether, which claims over 185 billion dollars in circulation. In comparison, euro initiatives remain tiny. SG-FORGE’s euro stablecoin showed only 107 million euros in circulation.

European banks move forward, but without enthusiasm

This is where the case becomes more concrete. A group of European banks, including ING, UniCredit, and BNP Paribas, formed a structure to launch a stablecoin pegged to the euro in the second half of 2026. The project aims to offer a banking and European response to an industry still dominated by issuers linked to the dollar.

But it is not time to declare victory yet. Demand remains cautious. According to the RBC note relayed by Reuters, two-thirds of the European banks surveyed consider that appetite for stablecoins remains limited. In other words, supply is structuring faster than actual usage.

This lag is logical. Banks move forward because they do not want to miss the turn, not because the general public is already massively demanding euro stablecoins. For now, these tokens mainly interest institutions, settlements between financial actors, and uses related to tokenization, much more than everyday payments.

The real issue therefore goes beyond crypto. The ECB reminds that a large part of card payments in the eurozone still depends on international schemes, and that today there is 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, regulated, Europe-governed private assets denominated in euro can find their place. France fully subscribes to this logic. At the same time, the French government has also promised a plan aimed at better protecting investors.