Qivalis drives transformation in global trade finance with stablecoins

Somewhere in Amsterdam, a consortium that started with nine banks has quietly grown into a 37-bank coalition spanning 15 European countries, all unified by a single goal: building a euro stablecoin that can actually compete on the global stage. Qivalis, the joint venture at the center of this effort, is targeting nothing less than the plumbing underneath Europe-Asia trade finance, a corridor worth roughly $5 trillion annually.

The project plans to issue its euro-pegged electronic money token on the public Ethereum blockchain in the second half of 2026, pending regulatory approval from De Nederlandsche Bank. If it clears that hurdle, it would become one of the first institutional-grade euro stablecoins built specifically for trade finance and cross-border settlement.

Europe’s answer to dollar stablecoin dominance

Dollar-denominated stablecoins currently command more than 95% of global stablecoin market share. Euro-denominated alternatives account for somewhere between 0.2% and 1% of the total market.

The project was incorporated in September 2025 and formally branded in December of that year. By May 2026, its founding consortium had quadrupled from 9 to 37 member banks. Jan-Oliver Sell serves as CEO, while Sir Howard Davies chairs the supervisory board.

Qivalis is structured as an electronic money token under the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, better known as MiCA. On the reserve side, Qivalis plans to keep at least 40% of its backing in bank deposits, with the remainder held in high-quality euro-area sovereign bonds.

Fireblocks, Ethereum, and the infrastructure play

In April 2026, Qivalis selected Fireblocks as its technology partner for tokenization and compliance infrastructure. The decision to deploy on public Ethereum is noteworthy. Many bank-led digital currency projects have historically gravitated toward permissioned or private blockchains. Qivalis chose the opposite path, betting that Ethereum’s composability and existing DeFi ecosystem offer more long-term value.

The project is currently in its pre-issuance regulatory phase. No tokens have been minted yet. Everything hinges on DNB granting authorization to operate as an electronic money institution, a process that involves demonstrating compliance with capital requirements, governance standards, and consumer protection obligations under MiCA.

Why trade finance is the target

Trade finance might be the least glamorous corner of global banking, but it’s also one of the most ripe for disruption. The traditional process of financing goods moving between continents involves stacks of paper documents, multiple intermediary banks, and settlement timelines measured in days rather than seconds. A single letter of credit can pass through half a dozen institutions before funds actually move.

Qivalis is targeting this workflow specifically. By providing an on-chain euro settlement layer, the consortium aims to compress those multi-day timelines and reduce the counterparty risk that comes with each additional intermediary. For the Europe-Asia trade corridor alone, even marginal efficiency gains across $5 trillion in annual flows would translate to meaningful cost savings.

The competitive landscape is not empty. Circle has launched a euro-denominated version of its stablecoin (EURC), and Societe Generale’s Forge unit has issued EUR CoinVertible. But neither has achieved the kind of multi-bank consortium backing that Qivalis brings to the table. Having 37 banks as stakeholders provides a built-in distribution network of institutions that would actually use the token in their daily operations.