Qivalis, backed by 12 European banks, is set to disrupt the global stablecoin market by launching a euro-denominated stablecoin in the second half of 2026.
Qivalis, a consortium of several European banks, intends to issue its first euro-denominated stablecoin in the second half of 2026 in attempts to reduce the US dollar’s market control.
The joint venture between banks including BNP Paribas, ING, and BBVA, was launched last year in a bid to develop a programmable euro-denominated stablecoin which can compete against the likes of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.
Speaking to Payment Expert, Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, believes its proposed stablecoin will become a “pillar of European strategic monetary autonomy” if widely used when it intends to launch in the second half of this year.
“There is a rare opportunity for the euro to emerge as a credible alternative to the dollar, where if we look at the fiat space, the euro is a clear second reserve currency,” said Sell.
US dollar-denominated stablecoins have a significant market share of the global market, making up 99% of total circulation, according to the European Central Bank (ECB). USDT and USDC are the two largest stablecoins by volume and value, and have significantly contributed to the market’s growth in recent years, with a market capitalisation that now exceeds $300bn.
This early market consolidation from USD stablecoins has become a cause for concern amongst European banking figureheads.
Sell raised concerns over the risk of “digital dollarisation” as more fintech’s and financial institutions adopt decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols to realise the near-instant cross-border settlement benefits stablecoins provide.
“If European companies must rely on non-EU payment rails or foreign-denominated stablecoins to conduct instant, cross-border business, we have a vulnerability,” said Sell. “That is why we need a European response to that imbalance, and the macro conditions for a successful euro stablecoin are more favourable than at any point in recent history.”
With the backing of 12 European banks, Qivalis could be positioned to build a homegrown euro stablecoin to compete against US dollar stablecoins and one that is not issued by US-based companies, such as Circle’s EURC.
“With already twelve major European banks as members of the consortium and incredible interest in the market, I think it is safe to say that European banks are taking the lead on their own infrastructure now,” added Sell.
“We want to provide an institutional grade “Made in Europe” solution that keeps our digital financial destiny in our own hands.”
An alternative to ECB’s Digital Euro?
The ECB’s answer to its sovereignty concerns has been the push to deploy a central bank digital currency (CBDC), otherwise known as the digital euro.
President Christine Lagarde and Executive Board Member Piero Cipollone have campaigned for a digital euro to be used across the 27 European Union (EU) member states as digital representation of the euro, to be used for retail and wholesale payments.
While the digital euro has support inside the European Parliament ahead of a legislation vote expected this year, opponents, such as Qivalis members BNP Paribas and ING, have raised concerns regarding the negative impact it may have on European payment services, such as Wero.
The Qivalis euro-denominated stablecoin can also be viewed as an alternative to the digital euro, which while it will have to comply with the ECB’s guidelines within the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), oversight primarily resides with Qivalis, as opposed to the ECB’s direct oversight of the digital euro.
Sell told Payment Expert he views their stablecoin and the digital euro as different layers of the same monetary stack; designed to modernise euro payments, but with fundamental differences.
“Euro stablecoins are already live, public blockchain-based, highly programmable, and integrated into fintech and crypto ecosystems, while acting as a payments tool,” said Sell.
“The digital euro, by contrast, would be issued by the ECB, and most likely run on centralised infrastructure. We are building a stablecoin usable on public blockchains, integrable into DeFi, asset tokenisation, and cross-border flows. These are different use cases with different constraints.
He also noted Qivalis’ digital currency will have a significantly quicker time to market due to the legislative process the digital euro is obliged to follow.
“The ECB aims to be ready for a potential first issuance of the retail digital euro during 2029, assuming the necessary EU legislation is adopted in 2026. At Qivalis, we are targeting H2 2026; roughly three years earlier. So, we can move faster on certain market-driven use cases.”
Growing on crypto exchanges, globally?
The euro stablecoin will be 1:1 backed by euro reserves with intended 24/7 redemption on markets and exchanges that are compliant with the MiCA framework.
Early use cases for the stablecoin include bank deposit settlements and assessing whether a euro-denominated stablecoin can ensure short-term sovereignty debt against its fiat counterpart in Eurozone countries.
“We launched the consortium with the commitment to building an open, public, MiCA-regulated euro stablecoin designed for broad and international usage across the ecosystem,” said Sell.
“We are in discussions with crypto exchanges, market makers, liquidity providers and other players in the ecosystem to ensure the token will be listed on regulated platforms and has adequate liquidity at launch.”
While Sell did not confirm the names of the crypto exchanges in discussion with listing the euro stablecoin for H2, Spanish news outlet CincoDías revealed Spanish crypto exchange Bit2Me has been in talks with Qivalis.
Qivalis, with its headquarters based in Amsterdam, will have to submit applications to exchanges, expected to be European MiCA licensed operators, to ensure there is sufficient liquidity of the stablecoin in order to list it.
“In the future, the consortium’s member banks will also be able to distribute and use the stablecoin directly for their own use cases alongside any third-party exchange partners,” said Sell.
