Qivalis can now legally issue a euro stablecoin under EU crypto rules. Issuance still depends on the publication of the token’s white paper. Thirty-seven European banks are backing one shared
Qivalis, the Amsterdam company owned by a consortium of 37 European banks from 15 countries, announced on October 14 that De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) has authorised it as an electronic money institution, the licence it needs to issue a euro-pegged stablecoin under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). The Dutch central bank entered the authorisation in its public register a day earlier, and Qivalis expects to start issuing the token within the next few months, once it publishes a white paper and meets the remaining MiCA requirements.
Under MiCA, a stablecoin that tracks a single official currency counts as an electronic money token (EMT), and only a bank or a licensed electronic money institution may issue one. Holders of an EMT have a direct claim against the issuer and can redeem at face value, while the issuer is barred from paying interest simply for holding the token. Qivalis now sits under ongoing DNB supervision, but the white paper, which must set out holder rights, the underlying technology and the risks involved, has yet to appear. CEO Jan-Oliver Sell framed the approval as a question of autonomy, saying “Europe’s currency deserves Europe’s rules – on-chain.”
Several commercially important details remain undisclosed, including the ticker, initial supply, reserve size and exchange listings. Qivalis said in September that the token would be issued on public Ethereum using an ERC-20F standard with compliance and identity controls built in, with Fireblocks, selected in April, supplying tokenisation and custody infrastructure. Press reports in Spain have pointed to a November launch, a date the company has not confirmed.
From founding idea to licence September 2025 Nine founding banks announce a joint euro stablecoin issuer December 2025 Qivalis brand unveiled as BNP Paribas joins February 2026 BBVA becomes the 12th member May 2026 25 banks join, lifting membership to 37 October 2026 DNB grants the e-money licenceSource: Qivalis announcements
A payment token is only as useful as the number of counterparties willing to accept it, and dozens of separate bank-issued euro tokens would split liquidity into pools that do not talk to each other. Each bank would also carry its own reserve arrangements, legal work and wallet integrations. Qivalis concentrates all of that in one supervised issuer and then relies on what it calls a B2B2X model, issuing the token to banks, exchanges, payment firms and market infrastructure providers, which in turn bring it to businesses and retail users.
The consortium started with lenders including ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, Danske Bank and KBC, then added BNP Paribas, DZ BANK and BBVA before 25 more banks in May brought in names such as ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Intesa Sanpaolo and Nordea. Membership does not oblige any bank to offer the token to its customers on day one, so actual reach will depend on individual integration decisions.
The reserve rules also explain part of the banks’ enthusiasm. MiCA requires an EMI-issued token to keep at least 30% of its reserves as deposits with credit institutions, rising to 60% if regulators classify it as significant. Part of the money customers move into the token therefore flows back onto bank balance sheets, which softens the deposit drain that lenders fear from dollar stablecoins.
Qivalis enters a market where euro tokens are growing but remain tiny next to roughly $300 billion in dollar stablecoins. The Digital Euro Association counted €727.6 million in active euro stablecoin supply across 15 tokens and 20 blockchains as of September 28, up from about €450 million that the ECB recorded in January. On-chain transfers reached €16.46 billion in the preceding 30 days, a figure that includes trading flows and wallet-to-wallet movements alongside genuine payments.
Token Issuer Supply EURC Circle €460M EURCV SG-FORGE €190M EURI Banking Circle €38M EURe Monerium €34M EURAU AllUnity €0.3M Not yet named Qivalis PendingSnapshot as of September 23, 2026. Source: DefiLlama
Circle’s EURC benefits from the exchange relationships built around USDC. Société Générale is the closer comparison, since its subsidiary SG-FORGE launched EUR CoinVertible in 2023 as a single-bank project and has since added a dollar stablecoin and tokenised securities. AllUnity, the venture set up by DWS, Flow Traders and Galaxy, launched USDAU on September 30 across six blockchains with built-in currency conversion, runs a Swiss franc token and is integrating EURAU into Clearstream custody with Deutsche Börse.
Banks outside the euro area are weighing the same split between going alone and pooling. Ten global lenders including Deutsche Bank have been studying stablecoins in G7 currencies since October 2025. In the US, U.S. Bank tested its own dollar token, USBDC, in a live cross-border pilot on the public Stellar network in September, even as 21 global banks led by names such as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs work toward a shared dollar token by 2027
The central bank’s April Macroprudential Bulletin warned that fast growth could turn euro stablecoin issuers into meaningful buyers of government bonds, because those securities qualify as reserve assets. ECB supervisors reported in September that about 30% of the banks they oversee plan to tokenise deposits and around 20% plan to issue e-money tokens. A Qivalis token would remain private money, legally distinct from the planned digital euro, and holdings would not fall under the €100,000 guarantee that protects ordinary bank deposits.
The white paper will be the first real test, since it should reveal reserve composition, redemption mechanics and the launch network. After that, readers should watch for the first named distribution partners and initial circulation data, because exchanges and payment firms can only list the token after qualifying as eligible counterparties. The economics may also shift after launch, because Europe’s central banks used the EU’s review of MiCA in September to ask for the 30% bank-deposit floor to be scrapped in favour of liquidity tests measured over one and five working days, a change that would weaken the deposit benefit that makes the token attractive to its own shareholders.
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