A project aimed at creating a stablecoin for the European Union (EU) has grown to include 37 banks and financial institutions.
Qivalis is a group of European banks building a regulated Euro-denominated stablecoin. The organization has announced that 25 additional lenders have joined its initiative.
That more than triples Qivalis’ membership as banks across Europe accelerate their push into blockchain finance and the creation of a stablecoin for the continent.
The consortium now numbers 37 financial institutions spanning 15 European countries.
New members of Qivalis include ABN AMRO (ABN: $XAMS), Rabobank, and the National Bank of Greece (OTC: $NBGRY), among many others.
The expansion comes as stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to a fiat currency, play a larger role in settlements and trades on blockchain rails.
The Qivalis project also reflects European banks’ efforts to reduce the dominance of U.S. dollar-backed tokens that account for 99% of the global stablecoin market currently.
By building a Euro-based alternative, Qivalis aims to strengthen the European currency’s role in digital payments and tokenized finance.
Qivalis plans to debut its Euro-backed stablecoin in the second half of this year under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.
S&P Global (NYSE: $SPGI) forecasts that the European stablecoin market could grow from 770 million euros ($895 million U.S.) today to as much as 1.1 trillion euros by 2030.
