The European Commission estimates that roughly €10 trillion remains in bank deposits held by euro-area households, with most accounts paying below 1% annually. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has described these funds as idle money and proposed the Savings and Investments Union, targeting up to €470 billion in additional investment for European companies, defense, and the energy transition.
The European Central Bank's September 2026 report, based on Household Finance and Consumer Expectations surveys, finds that around 80% of euro-area households own no stocks or investment funds. Among households with capacity to invest, perceived risk is the main barrier, followed by low financial knowledge and weak trust in markets. The gap with the United States widens at higher wealth levels: more than 65% of Americans in the top quintile hold market instruments, versus less than 45% in the euro area.
Tokenized bank deposits are emerging as a regulated entry point. Monument Bank plans to tokenize £250 million in retail deposits on the Midnight network, a privacy-focused layer-one chain using zero-knowledge proofs. Deposits would remain covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per person, but the project has faced delays because it needs an FCA-compliant institutional custodian for privacy proofs. In money market funds, French fintech Spiko reached $400 million in assets under management in twelve months and processed more than $900 million in circulating capital for over 1,000 companies.
Regulated stablecoin activity is also expanding. Circle's euro stablecoin EURC, issued as an e-money token under MiCA, surpassed €400 million in circulation in August 2026, roughly doubling over the previous year. Institutional infrastructure is advancing through the Deutsche Börse and Kraken alliance, which covers trading, custody, settlement, and tokenized assets, with Clearstream holding more than $23 trillion in assets under custody. Deutsche Börse also took a 1.5% stake in Payward for $200 million. In a further institutional signal, the Luxembourg Intergenerational Sovereign Fund allocated 1% of its portfolio, about €9 million, to Bitcoin ETFs, becoming the first euro-area state entity to do so.
Still, regulatory fragmentation persists. MiCA treats stablecoins as EMT or ART and limits EMT issuance to credit and e-money institutions, while the US GENIUS Act imposes 100% liquid reserve requirements and monthly disclosures. Tokenized deposits remain legally ambiguous in some jurisdictions. The ECB concludes that tokenization reduces operational friction, lowers transfer costs, and enables atomic settlement, but does not by itself change household risk perception. Mobilizing Europe's idle cash requires harmonized regulation, mature custody infrastructure, and effective financial education, not just a new technical layer.
