Group of European banks announce euro stablecoin company called qivalis

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PARIS/MADRID, Dec 2 (Reuters) – A group of 10 European banks, including heavyweights ING, UniCredit and BNP Paribas, have formed a consortium to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin, in a move they hope will counter U.S. dominance in digital payments.

The CEO of the Amsterdam-based company, named qivalis, will be Jan-Oliver Sell, who previously worked at Coinbase in Germany. ING’s digital asset lead Floris Lugt will be CFO, and former NatWest chair Howard Davies will be chair, the group said at a press conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

The banks involved in the project, which was first announced in September, were originally ING, UniCredit, Banca Sella, KBC, DekaBank, Danske Bank, SEB, Caixabank and Raiffeisen Bank International. BNP Paribas has also since joined the group, Lugt said on Tuesday.

Stablecoins – a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value and backed by traditional currencies – have grown sharply in recent years, driven by El Salvador-based company Tether, which has around $185 billion worth of its dollar-based token in circulation.

A host of top U.S. financial firms have been preparing to launch their own dollar-backed stablecoins after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a law establishing rules for stablecoins.

Qivalis is in the process of applying for an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from the Dutch central bank.

It expects to launch its stablecoin at the beginning of the second half of 2026, with the licencing process taking six to nine months, Sell said.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft and Jesus Aguado; editing by Emma Pinedo, Aidan Lewis)