Three Industry Perspectives on Qivalis' Momentum

Europe’s largest consortium: Two weeks after Blockstories exclusively broke the news that 25 new banks were set to join the European stablecoin consortium Qivalis, the formal announcement followed last week. With that, the consortium now officially counts 37 member banks, including some of Europe’s largest institutions, such as BNP Paribas, UniCredit, DZ Bank, and BBVA.
Why it matters: Together, Qivalis member banks now span 15 countries, hold roughly €8-10 trillion in customer deposits, and serve a combined customer base of around 450-500 million. Compared with single-bank issuers such as ODDO BHF, Banking Circle, and Société Générale, this gives Qivalis a significant distribution advantage for its stablecoin, which is slated to go live in H2 2026.

Qivalis: Current Members
Industry perspectives: To better understand how Qivalis’ scale, institutional backing, and potential distribution advantage are viewed across the European banking and stablecoin landscape, we spoke with:
ABN AMRO, a newly joined Qivalis member, on why it decided to join the consortium during this second wave of additions.
ODDO BHF, a bank pursuing the single-issuer route, on the trade-offs of the consortium model.
AllUnity, a European non-bank stablecoin issuer, on why it does not yet view Qivalis as a direct competitor.

Martijn Siebrand is Digital Assets Program Manager at ABN AMRO. Highly active in the tokenization space, the Netherlands’ third-largest bank by total assets is among the 25 new members that recently joined Qivalis.
Why did you decide to join Qivalis?
Over the past year, stablecoins have gained significant traction globally, with 2025 marking a clear acceleration in adoption and real-world use cases. We have also seen increasing interest from clients, with more frequent requests to discuss stablecoins and their potential applications.
Developments such as the announcement of Qivalis also contributed to this momentum in Europe and reinforced the relevance of a regulated euro stablecoin. This prompted us to look more closely at how such a solution fits within our broader digital assets strategy. Joining the second wave of Qivalis members is part of that.
For us, a euro stablecoin was the missing piece in our tokenized securities stack. Over the past years, we have focused on digitalizing securities issuance, issuing digital bonds on public chains, testing on-chain cash with the ECB, and joining Regulated Layer One. However, settlement remained fragmented: the security on one side, the cash on the other. As that work matured, completing the cash leg became the logical next step.
Solving that is not just a technology question. For a euro stablecoin to scale, it requires distribution, liquidity, and trust from day one. A single issuer cannot deliver that alone, but a network of 37 European banks can. That is what makes Qivalis a compelling proposition: a regulated, European solution, built by banks, for European clients.

Théo Planel is Crypto Assets Business Developer at ODDO BHF, which in October became first bank to issue a stablecoin, EUROD, with reserves held directly on its balance sheet.
With the momentum gained by Qivalis, does it still make sense for a credit institution to stay as a single issuer?
Being a single issuer gives us something a consortium model cannot: speed and control.
We control the development of our stablecoin end to end. That means we can make product and infrastructure decisions directly, including deploying on a new blockchain, without external approval layers, committees, or third-party timelines. We also capture the full economics of the model, instead of sharing reserve yield across a consortium with at least 36 other members.
Another major advantage is internal. By placing the stablecoin at the center of the group and on our own balance sheet, we have made blockchain a company-wide capability. Legal, compliance, marketing, operations, and the back office are all building practical expertise around tokenized money. That matters because stablecoins are only the first step. The capabilities our teams are developing today are the same ones we will need as the market moves toward broader asset tokenization.
Lastly, we also do not see liquidity between stablecoins as a structural obstacle. Discussions with other issuers are already underway, including around enabling 1:1 exchange between the stablecoins, much like traditional euros today.

Peter Grosskopf is the CTO and COO of AllUnity, a MiCA-compliant stablecoin issuer established as a joint venture between Galaxy, Flow Traders, and DWS, the asset manager backed by Deutsche Bank.
Could the momentum around Qivalis affect your strategy?
First, it's great to see so many banks showing interest in stablecoins in Europe. A very important step to become more sovereign.
Second, it is still difficult to speak about competition because Qivalis’ solution is not yet live. At this stage, it remains unclear what the initial use cases will be and which types of users the member banks will target first. If they target interbanking transactions, they also play in the same field like wholesale CBDC.
Third, Qivalis is currently only planning to issue a euro stablecoin, whereas our strategy is multi-currency, with the ambition of building infrastructure for the non-bank sector, targeting fintechs, corporates, and businesses for payments, on/off-ramp, and FX activities. We already have two stablecoins denominated in CHF and EUR, with a Swedish krona stablecoin expected in June and several additional currencies planned for later this year.
Our thesis is simple: the first wave of stablecoin adoption was dominated by the U.S. dollar and crypto-native use cases. The next wave will be driven by real-world payments and financial infrastructure, where businesses will increasingly need stablecoins denominated in local currencies.