For years, the global stablecoin story has been written almost entirely in dollars. Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC — these US-denominated tokens account for over 85% of a market that processed an extraordinary $33 trillion in transaction volume in 2025 alone. Europe watched, debated, and waited. That waiting, it seems, is over.
On September 25, 2025, nine of Europe’s most storied financial institutions — ING, UniCredit, Danske Bank, DekaBank, SEB, KBC, CaixaBank, Raiffeisen Bank International, and Banca Sella — announced they were forming a single company to issue a shared euro-denominated stablecoin. By December, France’s BNP Paribas had joined, making it ten. They named the company Qivalis, registered it in Amsterdam, and filed for an e-money institution licence with the Dutch Central Bank. The launch is targeted for the second half of 2026.
What Qivalis Actually Is?
Strip away the jargon, and a stablecoin is a straightforward idea: a digital token whose value is pegged to something stable — in this case, the euro. Every Qivalis token in circulation will be backed one-to-one by euro reserves, held and audited by regulated institutions. What blockchain technology adds is the plumbing: instant settlement, programmability, and the ability to move money across borders at any hour without the latency of traditional banking systems.
Qivalis will operate under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation — MiCA — the most comprehensive crypto regulatory framework in the world. This matters enormously. It means the token is not a grey-market experiment. It will carry the same legal weight as a bank deposit in European law. That regulatory legitimacy is, arguably, the product’s most valuable feature.
“Digital payments are key for new euro-denominated payments and financial market infrastructure. This development requires an industry-wide approach — it’s imperative that banks adopt the same standards.”
— Floris Lugt, Digital Assets Lead, ING · Joint Public Representative, Qivalis
The Race That Made This Inevitable
It would be a mistake to view Qivalis in isolation. The consortium’s formation is a direct response to a structural shift in global finance that accelerated dramatically in 2025. In the United States, the GENIUS Act — signed into law mid-year — created a federal framework for payment stablecoins, resolving years of regulatory ambiguity and opening the floodgates for institutional participation. JPMorgan extended JPM Coin to public blockchains. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Citi began exploring their own issuance. The message was clear: stablecoins were no longer a crypto novelty — they were becoming financial infrastructure.
Europe’s establishment had two choices. Cede this territory to American issuers, or build something of their own. They chose to build. As ING’s Lugt put it bluntly in the consortium’s founding statement, the initiative provides “a real European alternative to the US-dominated stablecoin market, contributing to Europe’s strategic autonomy in payments.” The language is deliberate — it echoes almost word-for-word how the European Central Bank describes the rationale for a digital euro.
The key difference? A bank-backed stablecoin can launch at least three years before the ECB’s digital euro — which won’t arrive before mid-2029 at the earliest.
Why India Is the Most Important Market to Watch?
The stablecoin story is often narrated as a US-Europe duel. But the country with the most at stake may be one that doesn’t yet have a seat at the Qivalis table: India.
Consider the numbers. India is the world’s largest recipient of remittances — roughly $130 billion flowed in during 2024, sent home by its vast diaspora in the Gulf, the UK, the US, and beyond. Those transfers cost families dearly: traditional wire services and money transfer operators typically charge 6–7% in fees. At stablecoin settlement costs — potentially below 1% — the savings would be staggering. Financial analysts estimate the annual benefit to Indian households at $5 to $7 billion.
But India isn’t waiting passively. Working in tandem with Polygon, the Ethereum infrastructure giant, and Indian fintech firm Anq, the country is developing its own stablecoin called the Asset Reserve Certificate — ARC. Each token would be backed 1:1 by the Indian rupee, and is designed to work alongside the Reserve Bank of India’s own Central Bank Digital Currency, the e-Rupee. The motivation is explicit: keep liquidity and innovation inside India’s economy, rather than watching capital flow into dollar-backed tokens.
India also holds a structural advantage that goes beyond policy. The country accounts for roughly 11% of the world’s blockchain developers. GIFT City — India’s international financial hub in Gujarat — is already running pilots for stablecoin-based trade and remittance corridors. The regulatory framework is still evolving, but the technical talent, the financial infrastructure, and the commercial incentive all point in the same direction.
The question isn’t whether India becomes a stablecoin powerhouse. It’s when.
The Global Race: Where Everyone Stands Right Now
United States: The GENIUS Act gave American institutions the green light. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citi are all building. Dollar-backed stablecoins remain dominant at over 85% of global supply.
Europe: Qivalis is now live in formation with ten founding banks. MiCA provides the regulatory backbone. Launch in H2 2026. The consortium is open to more members.
India: ARC rupee stablecoin in development by Polygon and Anq. GIFT City pilots underway. Regulatory clarity expected through 2026. e-Rupee CBDC progressing in parallel.
The market: Global stablecoin supply hit $307 billion in early 2026. Transaction volume reached $33 trillion in 2025 — up 83% year-on-year. Citi’s base-case projects $1.9 trillion in issuance by 2030. Their bull case is $4 trillion.
What This Means for Founders, Investors and Builders
For anyone building or investing in the fintech, payments, or digital asset space, the signal from Europe is unambiguous: the era of stablecoin experimentation is over. The infrastructure era has begun. When ten regulated banks with hundreds of years of combined balance-sheet history move in the same direction, the rest of the market follows.
The practical implications are broad. Cross-border supply chain financing becomes faster and cheaper. Corporate treasury management — historically stuck in aging batch-settlement systems — can run in real time. For Indian businesses with European trade relationships, the arrival of a regulated, liquid euro stablecoin is a tool that simply didn’t exist before.
“Stablecoin leadership is ripe for the taking in markets outside the USD. A stablecoin launched by a bank may appear less risky and garner more retail adoption.”
— Nic Puckrin, Co-founder, The Coin Bureau
The question for Indian founders and institutions is no longer whether to engage with stablecoins — it is how to position now, before the corridors are built and the standards are set by others. The firms that help define the India-Europe payment architecture in 2026 will occupy a structurally advantaged position for the decade that follows.
The dollar has held a monopoly on digital money for long enough. Europe has made its move. India is warming up. The next chapter of global finance is being written right now — and for once, it isn’t being written in English alone.
Four Things to Remember
01 — Europe means business. Qivalis is not a pilot or a press release. It is a licensed entity backed by ten of the continent’s largest banks, with a regulatory framework, a timeline, and a clear commercial mandate.
02 — India’s remittance corridor is the prize. $130 billion annually, charged at 6–7%. Stablecoin rails could cut that to under 1%. The savings — $5 to $7 billion — flow directly to households.
03 — India is building its own answer. ARC is designed not just to process payments, but to keep Indian capital inside India’s economy. It’s a sovereignty play as much as a fintech one.
04 — The window is now. The founders and institutions that shape the India-Europe payment architecture in 2026 will define the decade. This is not a trend to watch — it is a decision to make.
Sources: ING, BNP Paribas, Danske Bank, CoinDesk, CNBC, Bloomberg, Citi Research, CoinLaw, PYMNTS · All figures as of April 2026
