TL;DR:
- Qivalis expanded to 37 financial institutions across 15 European countries after 25 additional lenders joined the bank-backed euro stablecoin initiative.
- The project aims to launch a MiCA-compliant euro-backed stablecoin in the second half of 2026 and is seeking a Dutch EMI license.
- Dollar-backed tokens still represent about 99% of stablecoin value, while Qivalis wants stronger euro settlement for payments and tokenized finance in Europe across institutional market infrastructure and banks.
Qivalis gained momentum as 25 additional lenders joined the European bank-backed stablecoin initiative, lifting participation to 37 financial institutions across 15 countries. The group is building a regulated euro stablecoin for launch later this year, positioning the project as a response to the overwhelming dominance of dollar-backed tokens. New members include ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nordea, Erste Group and National Bank of Greece. For Europe’s banking sector, the expansion turns a defensive currency strategy into shared infrastructure, with stablecoin settlement now framed as a competitiveness issue for digital payments and tokenized finance this year.
Euro Stablecoin Push Targets Dollar Dominance
The timing matters because stablecoins increasingly function as settlement assets for blockchain-based trading, payments and tokenized securities. Dollar-backed tokens still account for about 99% of the global stablecoin market, while the overall sector is valued near $318 billion. Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC together represent more than 80% of that total. Against that backdrop, Qivalis is trying to give the euro a credible onchain role, not by creating another speculative token, but by organizing licensed banks around a compliant payment instrument before institutional adoption accelerates across treasury desks, exchanges and tokenized asset platforms in Europe.
The project’s regulatory path is central to its pitch. Qivalis plans to debut the euro-backed stablecoin in the second half of 2026 under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, and it is seeking an electronic money institution license from the Dutch central bank. That approach gives the effort a different posture from offshore stablecoin issuance. MiCA compliance is the commercial differentiator, because banks, asset managers and corporate treasuries need instruments that can survive legal review, counterparty checks and operational integration before moving real balances at meaningful scale within regulated financial workflows across Europe carefully.
The ambition also reflects a broader strategic autonomy debate. Qivalis Chairman Howard Davies said such infrastructure is essential if Europe wants to compete in the global digital economy while preserving strategic autonomy. S&P Global Ratings has projected the euro stablecoin market could grow from roughly 770 million euros, or $895 million, to as much as 1.1 trillion euros by 2030. That forecast is striking, but adoption remains uncertain. The next test is whether membership converts into usage, because 37 banks can build legitimacy, but only transactions prove market fit over multiple demanding market cycles.
