From statements of intent to field tests. Eur.Bank, the project promoted by Bancomat to develop a stablecoin pegged to the euro, is starting the experimentation phase with nine Italian banking institutions. For now, the tests will exclusively concern the technological infrastructure and the main use cases, without direct involvement of customers. It is the most concrete step taken so far by the initiative launched last year, while in Europe the race to build continental alternatives to dollar-dominated stablecoins is gaining momentum.
TESTS START WITH NINE BANKS
Participating in the first phase of experimentation will be Banca Generali, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Banca Sella, Banco Bpm, Bper Banca, Cassa Centrale Banca, Credem, Crédit Agricole Italia and Intesa Sanpaolo. The pilot phase will serve to test the technological infrastructure and verify the main use cases of the future stablecoin. For the moment, no commercial uses nor direct involvement of customers are planned.
The news comes just over two months after the indications provided by Bancomat’s CEO, Fabrizio Burlando (in the photo), who in March explained to Startmag how the group was working with the Bank of Italy on the necessary authorizations and considering the launch of a pilot project. “All the major Italian banking groups have shown strong support for the initiative,” the CEO said, adding that one of the distinctive features of the project would be the retention of deposits within the banking system: “The peculiar thing is that bank deposits will remain with the banks. So they will be safer, both for citizens and for banks.”
With the start of the tests, the roadmap announced by Bancomat last autumn thus enters its most concrete phase. Even then, the group had indicated 2026 as the year of the debut of a European payment stablecoin.
WHAT EUR.BANK WANTS TO BECOME
According to the promoters’ intentions, Eur.Bank should not be limited to being a stablecoin pegged to the euro. The digital currency would rather represent the access point to a broader ecosystem, designed to integrate the traditional banking system with new blockchain-based infrastructures.
One of the key points of the project concerns the management of the reserves that should guarantee the value of the digital currency. Unlike other models currently on the market, the idea behind Eur.Bank is that such reserves remain deposited within the banking system, preserving deposits and maintaining a direct link with credit institutions.
The main application areas under study concern the tokenization of financial instruments, including sovereign debt securities, payments and on-chain settlements available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, as well as services aimed at simplifying cross-border operations of Italian and European companies.
It is in this perspective that Burlando claims the possibility of combining innovation and savings protection. “Our goal is to demonstrate that innovation and stability are not in contradiction,” said the manager, explaining that it is possible to build “a modern digital infrastructure” without giving up traditional mechanisms of trust and investor protection. For Bancomat’s CEO, the project represents an important step not only for the group but for the entire Italian financial system.
THE EUROPEAN RACE FOR EURO STABLECOINS
The acceleration of Eur.Bank comes as the stablecoin market has become one of the main battlegrounds between Europe and the United States.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value through pegging to a traditional currency, generally at a one-to-one ratio. Today the global market is dominated by instruments linked to the US dollar, such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. A supremacy that in Brussels and major European capitals is increasingly seen as a potential strategic risk, because it could translate into growing dependence on American infrastructures and operators.
Contributing to these concerns was the Trump administration’s choice to promote a regulatory framework favorable to dollar-denominated stablecoins. According to the American approach, such instruments can become an additional vehicle for the international diffusion of the US currency and support demand for US Treasury securities.
For this reason, in recent months European projects aimed at building euro-based alternatives compliant with the rules introduced by the MiCA regulation, the EU regulatory framework dedicated to crypto-assets, have multiplied. Already in October 2025 Burlando argued that the European response to American stablecoins must come through regulated and supervised instruments: “That is the way.” But the manager also warned of another risk: “There must be no fragmentation.” To compete with major international operators, he explained, “the stablecoin needs critical mass to establish itself.”
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH QIVALIS AND THE EUROPEAN PAYMENT AXIS
However, Eur.Bank is not the only project aiming to carve out a space in the emerging European digital finance. In parallel, Qivalis is progressing, the European consortium born in 2025 with the goal of creating a euro-pegged stablecoin intended for payments and blockchain settlements.
In recent weeks Qivalis has significantly accelerated with the entry of new institutions, including Intesa Sanpaolo and Bper. The consortium has thus involved 37 banks distributed across 15 European countries and aims to obtain a license as an electronic money institution from the Dutch central bank. The launch is scheduled for the second half of 2026.
Although operating in the same field, Eur.Bank and Qivalis have different approaches. The former is mainly born as a payment infrastructure integrated with the banking system and connected to the evolution of the European Payment Alliance, the alliance among payment operators from Italy, Spain and Portugal aiming to build an interoperable European network. The latter looks more directly at tokenized finance and blockchain-based settlements.
For Bancomat, the project fits into a broader strategy to strengthen its presence in digital payments. The group can count on an ecosystem that today reaches about 14 million users and in recent years has progressively expanded the services offered beyond the traditional payment circuit.
The point of convergence remains, however, the search for greater European autonomy. In March, Burlando defined the availability of a “sovereign and independent” European payment system as “fundamental,” linking the issue of financial infrastructures to that of the strategic autonomy of the Union.
THE ITALO-GERMAN PLAN AND CENTRAL BANKS’ RESERVES
The growing attention to stablecoins has also produced initiatives on the regulatory front. In April, Italy and Germany developed a joint proposal aimed at limiting access to the European market for stablecoins coming from jurisdictions considered non-equivalent to those of the European Union. Among the hypotheses under study is also a power of intervention by the European Banking Authority over instruments that do not guarantee the immediate availability of reserves within the EU.
There are also concerns from monetary authorities. The European Central Bank continues to maintain a cautious approach and considers the digital euro as the main public project in the digital currency sector. Christine Lagarde has repeatedly highlighted the risks that private stablecoins could pose to financial stability and monetary policy. Similar cautions have been expressed by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, who pointed out risks related to the solidity of issuers, and by Deputy Director General Chiara Scotti, who warned of the danger of sudden runs on redemptions. The Bank for International Settlements has also warned about possible effects on monetary sovereignty and capital movements.
The experimentation of Eur.Bank is taking shape while banks, regulators and European institutions discuss the role that stablecoins may assume in future payment systems and digital financial markets. The project has also been addressed by the ABI. For the Director General Marco Elio Rottigni, initiatives on stablecoins can indeed develop “in a complementary and coherent way with ongoing public initiatives,” contributing to strengthen “innovation, security and competitiveness of the national financial ecosystem.”
