European banks expand Qivalis consortium to challenge dollar dominance

In a Tuesday press conference, Spain’s Banco Sabadell announced that it will join Qivalis, the European banking consortium developing a regulated euro-pegged stablecoin. The release comes from outgoing CEO Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno. Bankinter is also in advanced talks to follow, alongside unlisted Spanish institutions Abanca, Kutxabank, and Cecabank.

“It is primarily designed to make transactions more efficient and secure. It is an European project that we believe makes sense, and we will indeed be part of it,” Gonzalez-Bueno told reporters. He steps down later this year after Marc Armengol takes over as CEO, but the Qivalis commitment continues under new leadership.

How the consortium got here

Qivalis was incorporated in Amsterdam in December 2025 by nine European banks. BNP Paribas joined as the tenth member that same month.

As Cryptopolitan reported on February 4, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) became the 12th member, abandoning its standalone stablecoin plans in favor of the shared model.

The current 12 are Banca Sella, BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, DZ BANK, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB, and UniCredit.

The consortium is led by CEO Jan-Oliver Sell, the former CEO of Coinbase Germany, with Sir Howard Davies, the former NatWest Group and FSA chairman, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Fireblocks confirmed last month that it will provide the technical infrastructure for token issuance.

The market gap Qivalis is targeting

The dollar’s lead in stablecoin liquidity is overwhelming. At the time of writing, USDT sits at roughly $189 billion in market cap, USDC at around $78 billion.

By contrast, euro-denominated stablecoins remain a niche market. Circle’s EURC is in the low-to-mid $400 million range, while Société Générale’s EURCV is about $124 million, leaving the combined euro stablecoin market only a fraction of dollar-backed liquidity.

If we don’t have a euro onchain with depth of liquidity, then the only alternative is the U.S. dollar. hat’s a real risk to Europe’s financial and digital sovereignty

– Jan-Oliver Sell

Sell has also argued that the euro accounts for roughly 20% to 25% of global fiat financial flows but only about 0.2% of global stablecoin flows, underscoring the gap Qivalis is trying to close.

Reserves, regulation, and the ECB

The Qivalis token will be backed 1:1 by euros, with at least 40% of reserves held in bank deposits and the rest in high-quality short-term euro-area sovereign bonds, with 24/7 redemption.

The consortium is applying for an Electronic Money Institution license from the Dutch central bank under MiCA, a process expected to take six to nine months.

The European Central Bank’s planned digital euro is not expected before 2029, leaving Qivalis a multi-year runway as the only euro-denominated MiCA-compliant alternative to dollar stablecoins.

The Spanish second wave reflects a pattern. BBVA tried and abandoned a standalone effort. Sabadell and Bankinter are skipping that step entirely and going straight to the consortium model.