In December 2025, DZ Bank joined the European banking consortium Qivalis as its eleventh member. This places the central institution of the Cooperative Financial Network (Genossenschaftliche FinanzGruppe) among a group of prominent banks that already includes ING, DekaBank, UniCredit, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB, and Banca Sella. 

Qivalis aims to issue a euro stablecoin that is intended to operate as an e-money institution under the supervision of the Dutch central bank. The market launch is planned for mid-2026. The range of use cases is broad, spanning 24/7 real-time payments, programmable payment and business processes, supply-chain settlement, and the tokenization of assets (e.g., NFTs). 

Unlike existing euro stablecoins issued by smaller fintechs, the participating major banks bring one key advantage: trust and market relevance. That could be decisive for broad adoption among corporates and institutional users. 

Do we even need a euro stablecoin if the digital euro is supposed to arrive? 

Stablecoins—like cryptocurrencies—are the natural competitors to a digital euro. Whether and when it will actually be introduced remains uncertain. Regardless, the original concept of the digital euro has changed significantly since it was announced—and not for the better. 

What began as a sensible complement to the existing monetary system has, through numerous coordination rounds and interventions by EU bureaucrats, increasingly turned into a risky and tightly controlled construct. Concerns initially voiced only by pessimistic critics are now taking on tangible form. 

If this trajectory continues, the digital euro could entail a major market intervention by the European Central Bank (ECB), accompanied by extensive regulation and far-reaching control mechanisms over transactions. 

Against this backdrop, a euro stablecoin represents a more market-oriented alternative. Even strong ECB regulation has—at least so far—been unable to prevent the issuance of euro stablecoins. As a result, new room for maneuver is opening up for companies and users. 

Warnings about stablecoins — and what’s really behind them 

Official bodies regularly warn about the alleged risks of stablecoins and point to potential threats to European monetary stability—an assessment that is often echoed uncritically in parts of the media. 

On closer inspection, however, these warnings primarily reflect the structural weaknesses of a dysfunctional euro monetary system that has repeatedly been instrumentalized for state financing in times of crisis. 

Stablecoins and cryptocurrencies create genuine alternatives here. They make it possible to partially withdraw from the euro monetary system—and, in the longer term, from a highly regulated digital euro as well. 

alseda Consulting supports its clients both from a business and an IT perspective in leveraging the cost and functional advantages of stablecoins and cryptocurrencies in a targeted way. 

 
Contact us for more information at infomail(at)alseda.com