“If we don’t have a euro on the blockchain, banks will use the dollar because it’s there, it’s available, and it has a lot of liquidity,” Sell told CoinDesk. Instead of each bank issuing its own euro stablecoin, Qivalis encourages them to work together in a single common network.
Sell said Qivalis is not trying to compete directly with USDC. Its aim is to provide European banks, businesses and payment firms with a regulated euro alternative as tokenized finance expands. It would allow institutions to settle in euros instead of converting assets into dollars and back again.
As more banks join, the consortium also benefits from the same network effects that drive USDC adoption. “The more banks we have in the consortium, the better. Our network has stronger network effects,” Sell said.
Investment in infrastructure
Agant’s MacKenzie said he sees the same trend emerging in Britain
Banks are no longer just focused on digital assets, he said. Instead, they invest in the necessary infrastructure to connect stablecoins with traditional finance for payments, treasury operations and settlement. Companies generally prefer to settle liabilities in their own currency, he said, rather than convert to U.S. dollars first.
It could be the impetus to introduce non-dollar stablecoins, such as Societe Generale’s EUR CoinVertible (EURCV), Credit Agricole’s EURXT and Qivalis’ impending offering. But existing is insufficient. It is how the bank distributes the stablecoin to its customers that will determine its success.
