Spanish multinational bank BBVA has joined a consortium of major European financial institutions to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin.
The joint venture was first announced in December last year, with 10 organisations joining the consortium, including ING, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB, Danske Bank, CaixaBank, KBC, Banca Sella and DekaBank.
The new company, which is headquartered in Amsterdam, is currently awaiting authorisation as an electronic money institution from the Dutch central bank.
The coalition, called Qivalis, is operating under the solvency, governance and customer protection standards established by the European crypto-assets regulatory framework (MiCA).
The main goal of the organisation is to issue a shared stable cryptocurrency that will allow European banks to offer their customers new payment solutions and settlement of tokenised financial assets using blockchain technology.
BBVA said that, for example, a self-employed professional could pay suppliers located in other countries, or working with other banks, “more quickly and at lower cost”, using a euro-linked solution directly integrated into their bank.
The commercial launch is slated for the second half of 2026, once the technical and regulatory developments have been completed.
“Collaboration between banks is key to create common standards that support the evolution of the future banking model and deliver financial innovation to our clients in a consistent and practical way,” said Alicia Pertusa, head of partnerships & innovation, BBVA CIB. “In this regard, BBVA brings to Qivalis extensive experience amassed over years of exploring and developing use cases linked to digital assets.”
Jan-Oliver Sell, chief executive of Qivalis, says that BBVA joining the consortium marks an “important step forward”.
“With their addition, our network now brings together twelve European banks committed to building a secure, MiCAR compliant euro stablecoin framework,” continued Sell. “This growing alignment strengthens our ability to deliver a resilient institutional-grade on-chain infrastructure for businesses and consumers across Europe and the world.”
