Norbolsa | The European Banking Consortium Stablecoin, formed by CaixaBank and nine other European banks, has presented Qivalis, the company that will launch what they say is the first euro-pegged stablecoin, which they expect to be technically and technologically ready by the beginning of the second half of 2026.
This was explained on Tuesday at a press conference in Amsterdam (Netherlands) by the president of the new company, Howard Davies; the CEO, Jan-Oliver Sell; and the CFO, Floris Lugt.
The consortium is made up of CaixaBank and nine other major European banks and aims to create a stablecoin linked to the euro, i.e. a cryptocurrency that always maintains a 1:1 parity with the euro in order to operate in these markets.
Davies pointed out that the launch of this cryptocurrency aims to reverse the lack of stablecoins linked to the euro and noted that it is ‘a great opportunity’.
Lugt has separated the creation of this cryptocurrency from that of the “digital euro” on which the European Central Bank (ECB) is working, since, as far as they know, ‘there are no plans to link the digital euro to blockchain technology’, meaning it cannot be used for “on-chain” payments.
On the other hand, company officials have emphasised that the consortium is open to the participation of new entities, and Lugt has invited other banks to join the project.
In addition to CaixaBank, Banca Sella, BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, DekaBank, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB and UniCredit are also participating in the project.
LICENCE
Since the consortium was announced in September, the company has been focused on building the team and bridging the knowledge gap between the banking sector and the crypto sector.
Sell has indicated that the aim is to submit the licence application to create the stablecoin in the coming weeks and that it is expected to be obtained within six to nine months.
BUILDING TRUST
Davies has assured that the European Union has ‘good regulation’ of crypto markets and has emphasised that this project is the way forward if Europe wants to play an important role in this sector.
Sell stressed that the consortium’s aim is to ‘build trust’ and, in his words, an ecosystem of trust, as he believes there is plenty of room for this sector to grow in Europe.
He added that this cryptocurrency will maintain parity with the euro through cash deposits and high-quality assets with high liquidity.
The CEO of the new company explained that the consortium’s aim is to create a neutral standard and for the participating banks to offer value-added services. These services include immediate, low-cost international payments, the settlement of tokenised assets, and the sector known as decentralised finance and crypto markets.
