A consortium of 12 European banks led by Netherlands-based venture Qivalis has selected Fireblocks to provide the core infrastructure for a fully regulated euro stablecoin, according to a company release issued Tuesday. The supporting evidence appears in Singapore isn’t a ‘crypto hub’ — it’s something better: StraitsX CEO.
The project targets a commercial launch in the second half of 2026, pending approval from De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank, under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation framework.
Qivalis counts BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING and UniCredit among its institutional backers.
The group plans to issue a 1:1-backed euro token structured as an electronic money institution under Dutch regulatory supervision, positioning it as a bank-grade alternative to dollar-denominated stablecoins that currently dominate global digital asset settlement.
What Fireblocks Brings to the Table
Fireblocks will supply tokenization technology, wallet infrastructure and full lifecycle management tools for the initiative. The platform is also designed to handle compliance-critical functions including identity verification and sanctions screening, according to the company release.
A Fireblocks spokesperson described the project as a “regulated euro-native settlement instrument” built specifically for European institutions, rather than an adaptation of existing dollar-based stablecoin infrastructure.
The platform is intended to support issuance, custody, treasury management and payment orchestration simultaneously, enabling each participating bank to offer clients a compliant euro-denominated digital payment asset across multiple business lines.
The scope of the infrastructure agreement reflects how seriously European financial institutions are treating the operational side of stablecoin issuance.
Rather than a single issuer deploying a token, the consortium model distributes both the risk and the reach across 12 separate banking relationships, which could accelerate institutional adoption once regulatory clearance is received.
Dollar Dominance and the Push for a Euro Alternative
The scale of the challenge the consortium is addressing is significant. According to DeFiLlama data, the total global stablecoin market capitalization sits at approximately $320 billion, with roughly 99% of that supply tied to the US dollar.
Euro-denominated stablecoins account for only a marginal share of that total, leaving European institutions largely dependent on dollar tokens for cross-border settlement and treasury operations.
That dependency has drawn increasing scrutiny from regulators across the continent.
Bank of France First Deputy Governor Denis Beau urged the European Union earlier this month to actively limit the use of non-euro-denominated stablecoins in everyday payments, citing concerns about regulatory arbitrage during periods of financial stress.
His comments reflect a broader institutional consensus in Europe that unregulated or loosely regulated dollar tokens carry systemic risks that euro-native alternatives could help contain.
The Bank for International Settlements has also weighed in. BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos renewed warnings on Monday that some dollar stablecoins may function more like investment vehicles than genuine payment instruments, given their structural reliance on short-term securities.
He called for stronger global coordination on stablecoin regulation to close cross-border oversight gaps before they become a source of systemic vulnerability.
Those warnings add institutional urgency to what the Qivalis consortium is attempting to build. A stablecoin backed by major European banks, structured as an electronic money institution and supervised by a G10 central bank would address nearly every concern regulators have raised about existing stablecoin models.
European policymakers have been increasingly vocal about the strategic dimension of euro stablecoin development.
French Finance Minister Eric Lombard has publicly backed euro-pegged stablecoins as a tool to preserve European monetary sovereignty in digital payments, framing the issue not just as regulatory compliance but as financial infrastructure policy.
That political support gives projects like the Qivalis initiative a favorable regulatory environment to operate in, provided they satisfy the technical and compliance standards MiCA demands.
For Fireblocks, the deal reinforces its position as the preferred infrastructure layer for regulated institutional crypto activity in Europe.
The company has built a significant client base among banks and asset managers already operating under MiCA, and the Qivalis partnership extends that footprint into stablecoin issuance at a scale that few competitors have matched.
Whether the project meets its second-half 2026 timeline will depend heavily on how quickly De Nederlandsche Bank moves through its approval process, but the institutional weight behind the consortium gives it credibility that earlier euro stablecoin attempts have lacked.
Not Financial Advice: This article is for informational purposes only. Crypto investments are highly volatile. Always do your own research.
