Qivalis, the Amsterdam company backed by 37 European banks to issue a euro stablecoin, said on Oct. 14 that the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), has authorised it as an electronic money institution. That puts the company under DNB’s ongoing supervision and makes it eligible to issue euro-denominated electronic money tokens, the regulated form of stablecoin under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets rules, known as MiCA.
The token itself is not out yet. Qivalis says issuance is planned “within the next months” and will still be subject to MiCA’s requirements, including publication of a white paper. It did not give a date.
What the license does
Under MiCA, an e-money token is pegged to a single official currency and must be issued by a licensed bank or e-money institution. Holders have a legal claim on the issuer and can redeem at face value at any time, CoinDesk noted. The tokens cannot pay interest.
Qivalis called the authorisation “a decisive regulatory condition” for issuing its token. “Europe’s currency deserves Europe’s rules – on-chain,” said Jan-Oliver Sell, the company’s chief executive. “We believe Europe should have a euro-denominated on-chain settlement asset issued under European law and subject to European regulatory standards.”
Who it is for
Qivalis will not sell directly to the public. It plans what it calls a B2B2X model, distributing the token through banks, exchanges, payment providers and market infrastructure firms. The backers span 15 countries and include BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING and DZ Bank, according to CoinDesk, which also reported that Fireblocks was picked to provide the digital asset infrastructure. The supervisory board is chaired by Sir Howard Davies, a former chairman of NatWest Group and of the UK’s old Financial Services Authority.
What Qivalis has not said yet: which member banks will use the token first, how much money they expect to move with it, and which blockchains it will run on.
The U.S. banks are on a slower clock
The license lands a day after Wells Fargo’s third-quarter call. Chief executive Charlie Scharf said there that Wells Fargo and 20 other international financial institutions are setting up a company to issue stablecoins “beginning in the first half of 2027.” He also said the bank launched tokenized deposits on its own blockchain platform last month for corporate and commercial clients. Chief financial officer Mike Santomassimo said that service is “in production,” at “small volume so far,” with payments reaching the beneficiary “in two minutes or less.”
The bottom line: a 37-bank euro stablecoin now has its license in hand. The token, its white paper and its first users are still to come.
Sources: Qivalis; CoinDesk; Wells Fargo Q3 2026 earnings call; crypto.news