European banks plan regulated euro stablecoin
Consortium seeks Dutch licence for 2026 launch under MiCA rules
Nine leading European banks — ING, CaixaBank, UniCredit, Banca Sella, KBC, Danske Bank, DekaBank, SEB and Raiffeisen Bank International — have formed a Netherlands-based company to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. The issuer will seek an electronic money institution licence from the Dutch central bank and commit to MiCA requirements including 1:1 euro reserve backing, quarterly audits, capital buffers and formal risk-management measures.
Promoters say the stablecoin, planned for a second-half-2026 launch, will facilitate near-instant, low-cost cross-border payments, enable programmable transactions on blockchain rails, and integrate into mobile apps, payment gateways and online banking. The project is pitched as a way to bolster Europe’s financial sovereignty, reduce reliance on dollar-pegged stablecoins, and provide a regulated private-sector alternative while the European Central Bank develops its digital euro, targeted for 2029.
Industry supporters argue a regulated euro stablecoin will keep innovation in the euro area and limit outflows into unregulated crypto services. Regulators and central bankers maintain the digital euro is intended to coexist with bank deposits, not replace them, and have warned private stablecoins must be designed to avoid risks to monetary policy, bank liquidity and financial stability. Analysts note potential challenges: ensuring robust reserve management, operational resilience, legal clarity on redemption and custody, and coordination between private issuers and public authorities to prevent fragmentation of payment systems.
The banks’ move illustrates a dual-track approach in Europe: parallel private-sector stablecoin rollouts under MiCA alongside central-bank digital currency development. If successful, the initiative could accelerate commercial adoption of tokenised euro payments and reshape cross-border retail and merchant settlement, but it will face scrutiny from supervisors testing whether market-led stablecoins can meet the transparency, solvency and systemic-resilience standards MiCA requires.
