Nine European banks formed venture for MiCA euro stablecoin

Nine European banks announced on September 25, 2025 that they had formed a Netherlands-based company to develop and issue a euro-denominated stablecoin under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.

The founding group comprised ING, Banca Sella, KBC, Danske Bank, DekaBank, UniCredit, SEB, CaixaBank and Raiffeisen Bank International. Their entry mattered because it placed regulated commercial banks behind a shared attempt to build euro-denominated settlement infrastructure in a market overwhelmingly concentrated in dollar-linked tokens.

The announcement established a consortium and development plan—not a live stablecoin. The banks expected first issuance in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory and technical work that remained incomplete on September 25.

A regulated issuer was part of the design

The consortium said its new Dutch company would seek authorization and supervision from De Nederlandsche Bank as an electronic-money institution. It also planned to appoint a chief executive, subject to regulatory approval, and left membership open to additional banks.

Those details were more than administrative. Under Article 48 of MiCA, an issuer offering an e-money token in the European Union must be authorized as either a credit institution or an electronic-money institution. De Nederlandsche Bank’s supervisory guidance likewise identifies tokens referencing one official currency as electronic-money tokens and confirms the applicable licensing requirement.

MiCA also requires an e-money token to be issued at par after receipt of funds and gives holders a claim against the issuer, including redemption at any time and at par value. Redemption generally cannot carry a fee, and issuers and service providers may not pay interest merely for holding the token.

The banks’ statement that the planned product would be MiCA-compliant was therefore an intention to meet a defined regulatory framework, not evidence that authorization had already been granted. No event-day source established that De Nederlandsche Bank had approved the company, a white paper, reserve arrangements or the token itself.

Banks targeted payments and tokenized markets

The consortium described near-instant, low-cost settlement, continuous cross-border payments, programmable transactions, supply-chain applications and settlement of digital assets ranging from securities to cryptocurrencies as intended uses. Individual banks could also develop customer-facing wallets and custody services.

These were prospective capabilities rather than measured results. The banks did not disclose a blockchain, consensus design, reserve portfolio, token name, issuance size, fee schedule, transaction capacity or confirmed launch date beyond the second-half-2026 target. They also supplied no pilot data demonstrating that the proposed system would be faster or cheaper than existing European payment rails after custody, compliance and conversion costs.

The project’s institutional logic was nevertheless clear. A common token could allow participating banks and their customers to transfer a euro-denominated claim across compatible digital platforms outside normal banking hours. It could also provide a cash leg for transactions involving tokenized securities, reducing dependence on dollar stablecoins in European digital-asset markets.

The euro gap was substantial

A Bank of Italy market snapshot published on September 18, 2025 placed global stablecoin capitalization near $300 billion. Dollar-referencing tokens represented approximately 98% of that market, while euro-denominated stablecoins accounted for about $620 million, or roughly 0.2%.

Those figures were rounded aggregate capitalization estimates described as applying during the week preceding the September 18 speech. They were not audited issuer balances, trading volume or a September 25 closing measurement. Crypto markets trade continuously across fragmented venues, and classifications and circulating-supply estimates can vary by provider.

The scale difference explains why the banks framed the venture as supporting European autonomy in payments. It did not prove that customers would adopt their token or that a bank-backed product would displace established dollar stablecoins.

The verified September 25 milestone was narrower but significant: nine established lenders created a corporate and regulatory route toward a shared euro stablecoin. Authorization, technical architecture, reserves, distribution and actual issuance remained future tests rather than accomplished facts.