Sabadell CEO César González-Bueno made the announcement as one of his final acts before handing leadership to incoming CEO Marc Armengol, following the bank's successful resistance of a hostile takeover bid by BBVA. Notably, BBVA is already a founding member of Qivalis, meaning Sabadell is now joining a consortium that includes the bank that attempted to acquire it.

Expansión also reported that three additional Spanish lenders, Abanca, Kutxabank, and Cecabank, are in talks with the consortium, with formal announcements expected in the coming weeks. None of the three have independently confirmed those discussions.

Qivalis was formed in late 2024 by a group of 12 founding European banks including BBVA, BNP Paribas, CaixaBank, ING, UniCredit, and SEB. BBVA joined as the first Spanish bank in February 2026, establishing a template that Sabadell and Bankinter now appear to be following. The consortium is targeting a launch in the second half of 2026, pending an Electronic Money Institution license from the Dutch Central Bank. The token will be denominated in euros and backed 1:1 by reserves held in a mix of bank deposits (at least 40%) and short-term, high-quality EU sovereign bonds diversified across multiple member states. Holders will have 24/7 redemption rights.

The stated goal is straightforward: reduce European reliance on dollar-denominated stablecoins.

The global stablecoin market reached roughly $315 to $320 billion in Q1 2026, with USDT alone holding approximately $188 billion, or around 58% of total supply. USDC adds another $78 billion. Combined, USD stablecoins account for close to 99% of the market. Euro stablecoins, by contrast, represent less than 0.25% of total supply, with Circle's EURC, the leading euro-pegged token, sitting at roughly $438 to $461 million as of April 2026.

"A native euro stablecoin isn't just about convenience; it's about monetary autonomy in the digital age," said Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis and a former managing director at Coinbase Germany.

On the infrastructure side, Qivalis selected Fireblocks as its core technology partner in April 2026. Fireblocks will handle tokenization using its proprietary ERC-20F standard, an Ethereum-compatible format that incorporates integrated AML/KYC compliance, sanctions screening, and multi-institution governance controls, as well as treasury management and wallet security. The integration connects Qivalis to Fireblocks' existing network of more than 1,800 financial institutions. "European banks now have both the regulatory framework and the institutional-grade infrastructure needed to scale stablecoins across the market," said Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks.

The consortium is also in advanced talks with crypto exchanges and market makers to secure liquidity at launch. Spanish exchange Bit2Me has confirmed it is in discussions with Qivalis; most other platforms declined to comment at this stage.

The launch timing is not accidental. The EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, known as MiCA, came into full effect for stablecoin issuers in June 2024, and a transitional compliance period closes in July 2026, almost exactly when Qivalis plans to go live. The consortium is designed to be a direct product of that regulatory environment, not an adaptation to it.

The project carries practical significance well beyond Europe. South Asia, one of the fastest-growing stablecoin adoption regions globally, saw stablecoin transaction volumes rise 80% to $300 billion in just the first seven months of 2025. Financial institutions across the region show a 53% adoption rate for stablecoin-based payments infrastructure, the second-highest technology readiness score globally according to Fireblocks data. Financial institutions across India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan rely heavily on USDT and USDC for trade settlements and remittances, including flows tied to the EU, which is India's third-largest trading partner with roughly 120 billion euros in annual bilateral trade. A liquid, regulated euro stablecoin could offer a more direct settlement rail for those corridors without routing through a dollar intermediary.

In Africa, the relevance is equally concrete. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded more than $205 billion in on-chain transaction value between mid-2024 and mid-2025. Francophone West and Central Africa, where 14 countries use the CFA franc pegged to the euro, could find a euro stablecoin particularly useful as a settlement layer given the existing monetary relationship. East African diaspora corridors are relevant as well: remittance flows from Spain, Germany, France, and Italy to Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia represent high-volume, euro-native routes where a regulated euro stablecoin could reduce dependence on dollar intermediaries.

Qivalis has not yet received regulatory authorization from the Dutch Central Bank, and its token has no on-chain history yet. EURC, which grew eightfold since MiCA took effect, serves as the closest market proxy for what institutional adoption of a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin can look like. EURC's recent integrations with Ingenico's 40 million point-of-sale terminals and Wirex/Visa Stellar rails illustrate concretely what broad distribution could mean for the Qivalis token. Whether the Qivalis token becomes meaningfully accessible to retail users in any region will depend on how broadly it gets listed after launch, and on what distribution strategy the consortium pursues beyond its initial institutional focus on treasury management and corporate B2B settlements.