Intesa Sanpaolo and Bper also come on board Qivalis, the European banking consortium aiming to launch a euro-pegged stablecoin regulated according to EU rules. With the entry of the two Italian groups – along with 23 other institutions – the project reaches 37 banks in 15 European countries and tries to accelerate the construction of a continental digital payment infrastructure alternative to American dominance. A topic that now intertwines finance, technology, and geopolitics.
WHAT CHANGES WITH THE ENTRY OF INTESA AND BPER INTO QIVALIS
Qivalis was founded in 2025 by a group of nine to ten large European banks, including Unicredit, Banca Sella, Ing, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, and Raiffeisen, headquartered in Amsterdam and supervised by the Dutch central bank. The goal is to create a euro-based stablecoin usable for payments and financial settlements on blockchain, that is, directly through decentralized digital ledgers.
Now the project takes a dimensional leap. Among the new entrants in the consortium are also AbnAmro, Banco Sabadell, Rabobank, Nordea, Swedbank, and Erste Group, as reported by Sole 24 Ore.
This expansion is “a decidedly significant step,” commented CEO Jan-Oliver Sell, former manager of Coinbase Germany, explaining that the consortium “is open” and that discussions with other banking groups are ongoing.
However, the point is not only industrial. It is political. Qivalis aims to create a European infrastructure for settling euro payments on blockchain, avoiding that the future of the continent’s tokenized finance passes entirely through the dollar and U.S. circuits. “For European institutions, it is not sustainable to depend solely on the dollar to settle transactions,” Sell said.
The stablecoin should arrive in the second half of 2026, after obtaining the license as an electronic money institution from the Dutch central bank. The first uses will concern the cryptocurrency world, European exchanges, and financial services for companies: from international payments to foreign trade, up to corporate liquidity management and settlements of tokenized digital assets.
WHY STABLECOINS HAVE BECOME A GEOPOLITICAL ISSUE
Stablecoins are digital currencies designed to maintain a stable value, generally pegged one-to-one to a traditional currency. Today almost the entire market is dominated by dollar-based tokens, such as Tether’s Usdt and Circle’s Usdc.
And here geopolitics comes into play. The Trump administration decided to transform stablecoins into a strategic tool of economic and monetary policy. With the Genius Act, Washington introduced a regulatory framework aimed at promoting their global diffusion. According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, these digital currencies will strengthen the international role of the dollar, increase its use in payments, and support demand for U.S. Treasuries.
This is not a detail. Today the vast majority of global stablecoins are denominated in dollars, and this risks turning digital finance into a new extension of American monetary hegemony. The fear is of a “digital dollarization” of finance. This is why projects to build continental alternatives are multiplying in Europe.
THE ITALIAN-GERMAN PLAN AGAINST U.S. STABLECOINS
In April, as reported by Startmag, Italy and Germany drafted a joint document proposing a crackdown on foreign stablecoins, particularly American ones.
The idea is simple: allow access to the European market only to operators from countries with rules equivalent to those of the EU. Otherwise, stablecoins could be excluded from the community market.
The issue mainly concerns so-called “multi-issuer stablecoins,” that is, digital currencies issued simultaneously in multiple countries, with the reserves guaranteeing them held in different jurisdictions. Rome and Berlin fear that, in case of crisis or massive redemption requests, reserves held outside the Union might not be quickly transferable to Europe.
For this reason, the plan even provides a “kill switch”: a power assigned to the European Banking Authority (EBA) to ban stablecoins that do not guarantee the immediate mobilization of reserves within the EU.
This move clearly reflects the growing European distrust towards the American model based on private stablecoins dominated by the dollar.
THE EUR-BANK PROJECT AND THE EUROPEAN PAYMENTS AXIS
Qivalis is not the only initiative underway. In parallel, Eur-Bank is also advancing, a project promoted by Bancomat together with other European payment operators.
According to what was reported to Startmag last March by Bancomat CEO Fabrizio Burlando, the project is in an advanced phase and could soon start with a pilot. All major Italian banking groups would have shown interest.
The logic here, too, is that of European sovereignty in payments. Eur-Bank fits into the expansion of the European Payment Alliance, the alliance between payment systems of Italy, Spain, and Portugal aiming to create an interoperable European ecosystem.
“It is essential to have a sovereign and independent European payment system,” Burlando said, linking the topic of digital payments to that of European strategic autonomy.
The difference compared to Qivalis is mainly in the approach. Eur-Bank is born more as a pan-European banking payment infrastructure, while Qivalis looks directly at tokenized finance and blockchain settlements. But the problem they seek to address is the same: to prevent the European market from being colonized by American digital infrastructures.
THE ECB AND CENTRAL BANKS’ RESERVATIONS
The point is that not everyone views the expansion of stablecoins favorably, even when denominated in euros.
The European Central Bank continues to maintain a cautious, if not openly critical, stance. Christine Lagarde has repeatedly argued that private stablecoins pose risks to monetary policy and financial stability in the Union, insisting instead on the need for a central bank-issued digital euro.
The concerns mainly regard the possibility of runs on redemptions, liquidity problems, and loss of control over monetary flows. According to Fabio Panetta, Governor of the Bank of Italy, stablecoins expose holders “to risks related to the solidity of issuers.” Chiara Scotti, Deputy Director General of Bankitalia and former Fed official, evoked the risk of a “stablecoin run,” that is, a sudden flight of investors simultaneously trying to convert their stablecoins into traditional currency, with effects similar to a bank run.
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has also warned against the risk of loss of monetary sovereignty and capital flight.
Yet Qivalis promoters insist on complementarity with the digital euro. According to Sell, the two serve different purposes: the digital euro would be designed for retail payments within Europe, while stablecoins would operate mainly in the institutional world and international settlements.
This also explains the indirect reply to Lagarde. “We need an on-chain stablecoin now. The threat of dollarization is today. In five years, the game will be over,” Sell declared.
