Spain’s fourth-largest bank by assets, Banco Sabadell, announced on Tuesday that it will join Qivalis, the European banking consortium developing a regulated euro‑pegged stablecoin. Bankinter, the country’s fifth-biggest lender by market value, is also in advanced talks to follow, along with unlisted Spanish institutions Abanca, Kutxabank, and Cecabank, according to Reuters.
“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,” outgoing Sabadell CEO César González‑Bueno told reporters. The commitment will continue under new leadership after Marc Armengol takes over later this year.
Qivalis was incorporated in Amsterdam in December 2025 by nine European banks. It has since expanded: BNP Paribas joined as the tenth member, and Spain’s BBVA became the 12th member in February 2026, abandoning its own standalone stablecoin plans in favour of the shared model. The current 12 members include 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, former CEO of Coinbase Germany, with Sir Howard Davies, ex‑NatWest Group and FSA chairman, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Fireblocks will provide the technical infrastructure for token issuance.
The euro stablecoin market is dwarfed by its dollar rivals. USDT has a market cap of roughly $189 billion and USDC about $78 billion, while Circle’s EURC sits in the low‑to‑mid $400 million range and Société Générale’s EURCV around $124 million. Sell has stressed that the euro accounts for 20–25% of global fiat financial flows but only 0.2% of global stablecoin flows, a gap Qivalis aims to close. “If we don’t have a euro onchain with depth of liquidity, then the only alternative is the U.S. dollar. That’s a real risk to Europe’s financial and digital sovereignty,” he said.
The 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, featuring 24/7 redemption. The consortium is applying for an Electronic Money Institution license from the Dutch central bank under the EU’s MiCA framework, a process expected to take six to nine months. With the European Central Bank’s planned digital euro not expected before 2029, Qivalis would enjoy a multi‑year runway as the only MiCA‑compliant euro stablecoin alternative.
The Spanish banks’ move mirrors a broader European push. At the Paris Blockchain Week in April, France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure urged banks to explore tokenized deposits and called for more euro‑pegged stablecoins, noting the bloc’s current volumes were “not satisfactory.” Blockchain for Europe has argued that MiCA has made euro stablecoins less competitive than dollar‑based counterparts and suggested reforms to improve the regulated market.
