BNP Paribas has joined a consortium of European banks launching Qivalis to anchor the euro in the emerging stablecoin market. The move seeks to strengthen European monetary autonomy and provide a regulated, bank-backed alternative to dollar-linked private stablecoins. Qivalis plans an institutional-first rollout and is pursuing an electronic-money licence from the Dutch Central Bank under MiCAR, with a targeted launch in the second half of 2026.
The joint venture, named Qivalis, is an Amsterdam-headquartered company formed by ten major European banks, with members cited including BNP Paribas, ING and CaixaBank. The consortium plans to leverage the combined client networks and legacy payment infrastructure of its members to prioritise business-to-business payment flows, corporate treasury operations and supply‑chain settlement, with direct issuance and distribution routed through participating banks and their platforms.
Qivalis intends to make institutional integration a priority rather than pursuing retail-led crypto adoption. That distribution strategy emphasises institutional liquidity provision and API-based connectivity for third‑party financial technology providers to accelerate uptake among corporate clients.
Leadership, technology, governance, regulation and timeline
Jan‑Oliver Sell, formerly an executive at Coinbase Germany, has been appointed to lead Qivalis. His appointment is presented as a bridge between distributed‑ledger expertise and traditional banking operations, intended to align technological development with regulated financial practices.
Technical specifics for the stablecoin remain undisclosed. The venture’s stated architectural objectives are a blockchain‑native payments infrastructure focused on scalability for high transaction volumes, robust cryptographic security and interoperability with existing European payment rails and other digital‑asset platforms.
Qivalis is pursuing an electronic‑money licence from the Dutch Central Bank and plans to operate under the Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCAR) framework, with the licensing process expected to last about six to nine months and a targeted product launch in the second half of 2026.
The regulatory approach is designed to mitigate adoption and compliance risks by embedding regulated banks in issuance and by pursuing formal supervisory approval before market entry, while technical execution risks are intended to be addressed through phased implementations, modular architecture and banking‑grade operational controls.
The initiative represents a coordinated effort by major European banks to create a euro‑pegged, regulated stablecoin supported by established financial infrastructure. Its success will depend on securing the electronic‑money licence, executing the technical rollout and achieving institutional adoption.
