37 European banks will issue a euro stablecoin on public Ethereum

Qivalis, an Amsterdam-based consortium formed in late 2025, intends to issue a euro stablecoin on the public Ethereum blockchain once it receives an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence from De Nederlandsche Bank. The company states it is not authorised, does not issue electronic money and will not provide payment services while its EMI application is pending.

The group expanded to 37 member banks across 15 countries by May 2026. Members include ING, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, BBVA, ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nordea and CaixaBank. Ethereum Institutional confirmed on Sept. 8, 2026 that the token will be launched on the public Ethereum network rather than on a permissioned bank ledger.

The token will be backed one-to-one by euros. Qivalis has set a minimum reserve floor of 40% in bank deposits, with remaining reserves held in high-quality liquid assets such as government bonds. The asset is being developed on an ERC-20F standard that embeds governance, anti-money-laundering controls and identity checks at the token layer. Fireblocks will provide the tokenisation engine, institutional custody, treasury management and screening tools.

Qivalis is targeting a launch in the second half of 2026 and has indicated it will begin issuance immediately upon receiving the EMI licence. Final operational details, including the exact reserve mix, distribution arrangements, the token ticker and any wider multi-chain support, have not been published.

Several institutional pilots and bank-led systems have used permissioned ledgers or bank-operated networks. A separate group of 21 institutions has committed to a joint stablecoin company aiming for a 2027 dollar token launch. A recent experiment by DBS and Citi used Swift’s permissioned ledger to settle a cross-border payment with tokenised deposits.

De Nederlandsche Bank must grant Qivalis an Electronic Money Institution licence before any issuance can occur. Until that authorisation is granted, the consortium cannot begin operations. If the licence is approved, Qivalis plans to start issuance immediately; if approval is delayed or withheld, issuance cannot proceed.