The European Commission estimates that approximately €10 trillion remains in bank deposits held by euro-area households, with remuneration in most cases below 1% annually.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the funds as “idle money” and proposed the Savings and Investments Union (SIU) with the objective of channeling up to €470 billion in additional investment toward European companies, defense, and the energy transition.
The ECB Diagnosis: The Barrier Is Not Product Availability, but Risk Perception
The European Central Bank published in September 2026 a report based on Household Finance and Consumer Expectations surveys.
The data are conclusive: approximately 80% of euro-area households own no stocks or investment funds. Among households with the financial capacity to invest, perceived risk is the principal obstacle, followed by limited financial knowledge and low trust in markets.
The ECB notes that weak financial literacy reinforces both distrust and risk aversion. The gap with the United States widens as wealth increases: among the top quintile, more than 65% of Americans own market instruments, compared with less than 45% in the euro area.
The ECB conclusion is that affordability does not explain the gap alone; investment habits, product design, and the architecture of national pension systems also intervene.
Tokenization Instruments with Direct Application
Tokenized bank deposits represent the most immediate path to introduce efficiency without leaving the regulatory perimeter.
Monument Bank, a United Kingdom entity focused on clients with wealth between £50,000 and £5 million, plans to tokenize £250 million in retail deposits on the Midnight network, a layer-one blockchain centered on privacy through zero-knowledge proofs.
The funds remain in the bank, continue to earn interest, and maintain coverage from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person.
The project, announced in March 2026, has accumulated a delay of several months due to difficulty in finding an institutional custodian that meets Financial Conduct Authority standards and manages privacy proofs.
The bottleneck illustrates a recurring problem: custody infrastructure for tokenized assets in Europe has not yet reached the operational maturity required by the regulated sector.
In the segment of tokenized money market funds, French fintech Spiko has demonstrated commercial traction with a model aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises.
Spiko reached $400 million in assets under management in twelve months, with more than $900 million in circulating capital processed for more than 1,000 companies. The funds are backed by Treasury bills from euro-area governments or the United States Treasury, assets considered free of credit risk and with daily liquidity.
The tokenized architecture allows 24/7 transfers and operations with stablecoins as a funding or withdrawal method. Spiko co-founder Paul-Adrien Hyppolite noted that in Europe an erroneous belief persists that money does not generate yield unless locked away or risk is taken, when in reality holding idle cash with positive policy rates implies a quantifiable opportunity cost.
Regulated stablecoins complement the ecosystem
EURC, issued by Circle as an e-money token (EMT) under MiCA, surpassed €400 million in circulation in August 2026, with a market capitalization that doubled over the previous year.
European regulation requires EMT issuers to be authorized electronic money institutions or credit institutions, with segregated reserves and prudential supervision.
EURC operates on major networks and is integrated into institutional platforms such as Coinbase and Kraken, as well as payment networks Mastercard and Visa.
Institutional Infrastructure Advances, but Regulatory Fragmentation Persists
Deutsche Börse Group and Kraken formalized in December 2025 a strategic alliance covering trading, custody, settlement, and tokenized assets. The agreement includes distribution of securities deposited at Clearstream—the custody arm of the German group, with more than $23 trillion in assets under custody—in tokenized format to Kraken’s client base.
Deutsche Börse also acquired a 1.5% stake in Payward, Kraken’s parent company, for $200 million. In the sovereign sphere, the Luxembourg Intergenerational Sovereign Fund (FSIL) allocated 1% of its portfolio, approximately €9 million, to Bitcoin ETFs, becoming the first state entity in the euro area to adopt exposure.
However, the global regulatory framework remains fragmented. MiCA classifies stablecoins as EMT or ART and reserves EMT issuance to credit or e-money institutions, while the United States GENIUS Act establishes a federal regime with 100% reserve requirements in liquid assets and monthly disclosure.
Tokenized deposits occupy an even more ambiguous space: in some jurisdictions they are treated as conventional bank liabilities, while in others they are considered digital instruments requiring additional supervision.
The lack of alignment generates operational complexity for institutions operating across multiple markets and limits the scalability of tokenized models.
The Dimension Technology Does Not Resolve
Tokenization reduces operational friction, lowers transfer costs, and enables atomic settlement. The advances are measurable.
What tokenization does not modify is the risk perception that the ECB identifies as the principal barrier. A household that distrusts capital markets will not change perception because the underlying instrument is represented on a distributed ledger.
Financial culture and institutional trust are variables independent of technological infrastructure. The ECB itself recognizes that savings habits built over generations can resist even tax incentives and simplified products.
Tokenization, therefore, must be understood as a layer of efficiency within a broader strategy. Tokenized deposits and tokenized money market funds offer yield without leaving the regulated perimeter, positioning them as viable instruments for the conservative saver.
Regulated stablecoins under MiCA provide digital liquidity with auditable reserve backing. Infrastructure from Deutsche Börse and Clearstream brings tokenized assets closer to institutional channels. No development mentioned above, however, replaces the need for financial education programs and products that the average saver understands and trusts.
The mobilization of €10 trillion does not depend on an isolated technological innovation. It depends on convergence between harmonized regulation, mature custody infrastructure, and effective financial literacy. Tokenization provides the first layer; the other two remain pending.
