Thirty-seven of Europe’s largest financial institutions have committed to launch a regulated, euro-denominated stablecoin through Qivalis, an Amsterdam-based joint venture formed by a consortium of European banks. Qivalis has now been authorised by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) as an electronic money institution, clearing the central regulatory hurdle for issuing a euro stablecoin under MiCA. Issuance is planned within the coming months, once DNB has reviewed the consortium’s white paper. The 1:1-backed euro stablecoin is intended as institutional-grade infrastructure for payments, settlement, and tokenised assets.
The consortium began with twelve founding banks. It now counts thirty-seven across fifteen countries, reaching most of Europe's major banking groups. These banks are not running an experiment. They have committed capital, legal teams, and board-level oversight to building a shared euro stablecoin they intend to use in production.
In absolute terms, euro-denominated stablecoins are growing quickly, from roughly €50 million in market capitalisation at the start of 2024 to €450 million by January 2026. But against a roughly $300 billion market for dollar-denominated stablecoins, they are still a drop in the ocean. This is exactly the structural dependency that Qivalis has set out to solve. For every bank in the consortium, or indeed any organisation considering using the Qivalis stablecoin, that raises a practical question: when the asset launches, will you be ready to hold it for your clients?
"Now that the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation (MiCA) is established across Europe, the region’s banks are emboldened to launch the digital asset offerings that their customers are asking for."
Cassie Craddock, VP, Managing Director, Ripple
MiCA gave banks the regulatory clarity to issue and hold tokenised money. It did not give them the infrastructure to actually do it. That part still has to be built, bank by bank.
The Infrastructure Banks Need Beyond Issuance
Qivalis will issue its stablecoin under its own authorisations and technology. That arrangement governs minting, backing, and redemption at the issuer level. It does not decide how an individual member bank safeguards the asset for its clients, demonstrates controls to its regulator, or services the position operationally.
For many institutions, that leaves a custody decision: retain custody within the bank or delegate it to a third party. Keeping custody in-house preserves control of the asset and client relationship, but requires the technology, controls, and operating model to support it.
The challenge is doing that without building a separate operating environment for a new asset class.
How European Banks Are Preparing for Digital Asset Custody
Members of the Qivalis consortium, including BBVA and DZ BANK, already run on Ripple Custody – relevant precedent for institutions weighing this decision now.
Every bank's architecture and requirements are different, but Qivalis members are preparing for the same thing: supporting a shared euro stablecoin within a regulated banking environment.
Ripple Custody was built around that constraint: bringing digital assets into existing banking environments rather than creating a separate one.
- Built to integrate: API-first architecture connects with core banking and back-office systems through a single orchestration layer
- Governance built in: Policy-as-code enforces access, approvals, segregation of duties, and jurisdictional controls for every onchain and offchain operation.
Together, these capabilities form part of Ripple's end-to-end digital asset infrastructure, spanning issuance, custody, governance, settlement, and redemption, supported by Ripple's regulatory footprint in Europe.
DZ BANK and BBVA show what that looks like in practice.
Digital Asset Custody in Practice: DZ BANK and BBVA
DZ BANK and BBVA serve different clients and use cases, but both seamlessly integrated digital asset custody into established banking environments.
DZ BANK
One of Germany's largest depository banks, with €350 billion in assets under custody, needed to custody crypto securities issued under Germany's Electronic Securities Act without rebuilding the capital-market processes it had spent decades developing.
- Built around the bank's operating model: Ripple Custody integrated with DZ BANK's existing asset-management services and custody processes.
- Designed for a regulated environment: The solution supports the security, scalability, and governance requirements of its institutional custody business.
- Proven with tokenised assets: One of its first use cases was custody of the Siemens tokenised bond in which DZ BANK and Union Investment had invested.
BBVA
When Spain's MiCA framework came into force in July 2025, BBVA launched crypto-asset trading and custody service across its Spanish franchise, extending a service already live in Switzerland and Türkiye. The bank wanted to hold its clients' digital assets directly, under its own control, rather than delegate custody to a third party.
- Integrated with core banking: Ripple Custody works within BBVA's existing banking infrastructure rather than as a separate operating environment.
- Control stays with BBVA: The bank maintains its own cryptographic keys and remains responsible for safeguarding client assets.
- Built to scale across markets: Ripple Custody supports BBVA's digital asset custody operations across multiple jurisdictions and client segments.
Preparing for the Next Phase of Euro Stablecoins
The launch of a regulated euro stablecoin will be a milestone for European finance. But much of the work still happens inside individual banks, where custody, governance, and client service have to meet existing operational and regulatory requirements.
Thirty-seven banks decided the asset should exist. Choosing how to custody, safeguard, and operate it is a decision each bank still has to make on its own.
Contact our team to discuss how Ripple Custody can support your digital asset operations in Europe.
