BBVA joins Qivalis consortium to launch a euro‑backed stablecoin in 2026

Criptolog » Coins » BBVA joins Qivalis consortium to launch a euro‑backed stablecoin in 2026

The Spanish banking group BBVA has decided to step fully into the regulated digital money arena by joining Qivalis, a European banking consortium created to issue a euro‑backed stablecoin. The move marks a change of tack for the institution, which had previously been working on its own independent stablecoin project.

With this decision, BBVA aligns itself with a broader sector strategy in which large European banks are pooling efforts around stablecoins, the segment of the crypto market designed to minimise volatility by being tied to traditional assets such as fiat currencies or commodities. The goal is to combine the flexibility of blockchain with the legal certainty and oversight that come with regulated financial institutions.

What is Qivalis and what is it trying to achieve?

Qivalis is a joint venture set up by a group of major European banks to develop and issue a stablecoin linked to the euro. Structured as a shared infrastructure project, its ambition is to offer a digital representation of money that can be used for everyday payments and for settling financial operations directly on blockchain networks.

The company is headquartered in Amsterdam and is being built from the ground up to comply with the European MiCA framework (Markets in Crypto‑Assets). Qivalis is in the process of obtaining a licence as an Electronic Money Institution from the Dutch central bank, a prerequisite for issuing a regulated, euro‑denominated token that can be used across the European Economic Area.

According to the consortium’s roadmap, the commercial launch of the stablecoin is targeted for the second half of 2026, once the necessary technical development and regulatory approvals have been completed. The idea is that the token will circulate in a controlled environment, fully backed by reserves and subject to capital, governance and consumer‑protection standards equivalent to those applied to traditional banking products.

Unlike unregulated crypto projects, the Qivalis stablecoin is conceived as an institutional‑grade payment and settlement tool. It is meant to be integrated into banks’ existing systems, allowing customers to move value on blockchain rails while keeping their usual banking relationships and protections.

BBVA’s change of strategy: from solo project to consortium

BBVA had announced at the end of last year that it was preparing to launch its own proprietary stablecoin around 2026. That initiative was part of a pilot developed in partnership with Visa, in which financial institutions could issue tokens backed by fiat money using the payments giant’s infrastructure.

However, as the market evolved and new industry‑wide initiatives emerged, the bank opted to pivot from a standalone solution to a shared European platform. By joining Qivalis, BBVA is effectively shelving its original one‑bank stablecoin design and redirecting its work towards a common euro token issued collectively by several institutions.

The bank stresses that the work done so far with Visa has not been wasted. The pilot served as a learning ground in areas such as technology, regulation, governance and use cases for stablecoins. The use cases that BBVA had planned for its own token are expected to continue, but now using the Qivalis euro stablecoin as the underlying digital asset instead of a BBVA‑only coin.

Alicia Pertusa, head of Partnerships and Innovation at BBVA Corporate & Investment Banking, underlined that collaboration between banks is crucial to define common standards for the future of banking and to ensure that financial innovation reaches customers in a consistent and useful way. In her view, initiatives like Qivalis can provide the scale and interoperability that solo projects would struggle to achieve.

BBVA’s participation is also supported by its regulatory positioning. The institution became the first bank in Spain to obtain a MiCA licence, which gives it a head start in operating within the new European cryptoasset regime and aligns naturally with its entry into a fully compliant euro‑stablecoin venture.

Who is behind Qivalis?

The Qivalis consortium brings together twelve prominent European banks. In addition to BBVA, the joint venture includes Banca Sella, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, DZ BANK, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB and UniCredit.

This line‑up gives the project a broad pan‑European footprint, covering key markets in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the Benelux region and the Nordic and central‑eastern European countries. The expectation is that this diversity will generate a strong network effect: customers of one member bank should be able to transact seamlessly with customers of any other bank in the consortium using the same euro‑denominated token.

Jan‑Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, highlighted that BBVA’s arrival is an important milestone in the construction of a euro stablecoin framework that is both secure and MiCA‑compliant. He argued that by grouping several institutions under a single infrastructure, the project can offer an on‑chain setup designed from the outset for businesses and consumers, rather than adapting consumer‑grade crypto networks to institutional needs.

One of the themes stressed by the consortium is interoperability. If each bank had proceeded to issue its own, fully independent stablecoin, the European market could have ended up fragmented into multiple, incompatible tokens. By opting for a shared asset, the members seek to avoid that outcome and reduce the complexity that would arise from trying to make many different bank‑issued coins work together.

What the euro stablecoin is supposed to do

The Qivalis token is designed as a euro‑linked stablecoin intended for payments and settlement of tokenized financial assets. Being pegged to the euro means that, unlike volatile cryptoassets such as Bitcoin or Ether, its value should remain broadly stable, mirroring the underlying fiat currency.

For everyday users, this translates into the ability to send and receive funds faster and at lower cost, particularly in cross‑border situations. An often‑quoted example is that of a self‑employed professional who needs to pay suppliers in other countries or working with different banks: payments could be executed in less time and with reduced fees, through a euro‑stablecoin solution integrated directly into the customer’s usual banking app.

For companies and financial institutions, one of the biggest promises lies in near‑instant settlement of tokenized securities and other digital assets. Using a regulated stablecoin as settlement asset on blockchain could help reduce counterparty risk, cut down on intermediaries and streamline back‑office processes in capital markets.

Among the potential advantages mentioned by the banks are quicker cross‑border transactions, more efficient liquidity management and greater alignment between traditional payment systems and emerging digital‑asset infrastructures. The token is intended to behave like a reliable extension of bank money into the on‑chain world, rather than a speculative instrument.

According to the consortium, the stablecoin will also support integration with existing payment networks and banking rails, so that users can move in and out of the token without friction. The stablecoin is not conceived as a replacement for bank accounts, but rather as an additional layer that leverages blockchain technology for specific use cases.

Regulation, MiCA and trust

The Qivalis project has been structured around the requirements of the EU’s MiCA regulation, which sets out rules for issuing and managing cryptoassets in Europe. This includes obligations regarding capital, risk management, reserve backing, governance and transparency to users.

By seeking authorisation as an Electronic Money Institution supervised by the Dutch central bank, Qivalis aims to operate as a fully regulated issuer of euro‑denominated digital money. The stablecoin would be supported by reserves of high‑quality liquid assets, under the oversight mechanisms applied to the banking sector.

For European authorities, such initiatives offer a way to encourage innovation in digital payments while keeping it within a supervised perimeter. Compared with offshore or unregulated stablecoins, bank‑issued euro tokens can be more easily monitored, audited and, where necessary, intervened upon by national and European supervisors.

Central banks in the euro area have shown particular interest in solutions promoted by the regulated banking sector, as they are based on entities that supervisors already know and oversee. At the same time, these projects sit alongside other lines of work being pursued by the public sector, especially the potential introduction of a digital euro as a central bank liability.

Stablecoins, the euro and a dollar‑dominated market

Over the last few years, the global stablecoin market has experienced very rapid growth, surpassing 300 billion dollars in total capitalisation. The bulk of that value is concentrated in two dollar‑based tokens: USDT (Tether) and USDC (Circle). As a result, dollar‑pegged stablecoins account for roughly 99% of the sector.

This dominance has raised concerns in Europe about an excessive dependence on dollar‑linked digital instruments. Against that backdrop, euro‑denominated initiatives such as Qivalis are seen as a way to offer an alternative, more aligned with European monetary sovereignty and regulatory standards.

Several projects are already under way in the region. Société Générale Forge, for instance, launched the euro‑pegged EUR CoinVertible (EURCV) in 2023. In Spain, BBVA and CaixaBank are now part of Qivalis, while Banco Santander has joined an international consortium exploring the issuance of a stablecoin focusing on the main G7 currencies.

Analysts expect this segment to expand significantly. A study by S&P Global Ratings estimates that the value of European stablecoins in circulation could grow from around 650 million euros today to somewhere between 25 billion and 1.1 trillion euros by 2030, depending on adoption rates and regulatory clarity.

For the banking industry, stablecoins are viewed as a potential bridge between traditional money and on‑chain finance, particularly in cross‑border payments, where existing infrastructures remain complex and costly to operate. By issuing their own regulated tokens, banks hope to play a more active role in the crypto ecosystem, rather than leaving the field to non‑bank players.

The wider European payments landscape

The Qivalis initiative is part of a broader European push to reduce reliance on non‑European payment networks and infrastructures. The European Central Bank has repeatedly stressed the need for a more integrated continental payments system that lowers dependence on providers based outside the EU.

One of the central projects on the public side is the digital euro, conceived as a virtual form of cash issued by the ECB and built on European technology and infrastructure. In parallel, the private sector is moving ahead with its own plans, such as creating a pan‑European instant payment solution sometimes described as a “European Bizum” for cross‑border transfers.

This banking‑led platform aims to link national account‑to‑account schemes into a single, Europe‑wide framework, offering free or low‑cost transfers and a common user experience across countries. Technical implementation is expected to begin in the coming months, with cross‑border person‑to‑person payments planned for later this year and expansion to e‑commerce and point‑of‑sale transactions around 2027.

Within this ecosystem, stablecoins issued by banks could become one of several complementary tools. While the digital euro would be central bank money and the new instant payment schemes rely on traditional account transfers, euro‑based stablecoins would provide a tokenised, programmable form of value suited for blockchain‑enabled services.

The coexistence of these different instruments is likely to define Europe’s payment landscape in the coming decade, with regulators, banks and technology providers each playing distinct but interconnected roles.

BBVA’s broader work on digital assets and blockchain

BBVA’s bet on Qivalis builds on a series of initiatives in the field of digital assets and distributed ledger technology. The bank has been experimenting with tokenisation, blockchain‑based payment trials and collaborations with international organisations for several years.

Among its recent projects are tests with SWIFT aimed at using blockchain as a common registry for international banks, and its participation in Agorá, an initiative led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to improve wholesale cross‑border payments through new technologies.

On the retail and corporate side, BBVA has explored cases of use involving tokenised financial instruments and digital custody services, as well as pilot schemes that connect traditional banking products with blockchain infrastructures. These experiments have provided practical experience that the bank can now apply in the Qivalis environment.

The institution sees stablecoins as a logical evolution of money in an increasingly digital financial system, provided they are issued and managed under robust regulatory standards. In this sense, the Qivalis project offers a framework consistent with BBVA’s positioning: innovation anchored in supervision, legal certainty and risk control.

By bringing together multiple banks under a shared structure, Qivalis also gives BBVA access to a wider customer base and a broader set of potential use cases than it could achieve alone, from corporate treasury solutions to retail payments and capital‑markets settlement.

As the timetable moves toward the planned launch in 2026, the consortium will have to complete the technical build‑out, secure the remaining regulatory approvals and conduct pilot programmes with selected clients. How successfully Qivalis manages those steps will determine whether its euro‑denominated stablecoin can establish itself as a reference instrument in Europe’s evolving digital money landscape.

Artículo relacionado:

Fidelity presenta FIDD, su primera stablecoin regulada sobre Ethereum