Luxembourg’s state-owned bank Spuerkeess has joined Qivalis, a European banking consortium developing a euro stablecoin for regulated digital payments and on-chain settlement.
The Luxembourg bank announced on 20 May 2026 that it had taken a stake in Qivalis, which now brings together 37 financial institutions from 15 European countries. The consortium includes 12 founding banks and 25 new member banks, with Spuerkeess joining alongside institutions such as ABN AMRO, Bank of Ireland, Erste Group, Intesa Sanpaolo, Nordea, Rabobank and Swedbank.
Qivalis is developing a stablecoin fully backed 1:1 by the euro. The consortium said the instrument would comply with the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation and support secure, efficient and scalable digital payments across Europe.
Qivalis, which is domiciled in Amsterdam and was founded in September 2025, is seeking authorisation from De Nederlandsche Bank as an electronic money institution. The launch of the euro stablecoin is planned for the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
Jan-Oliver Sell, chief executive officer of Qivalis, stated that the addition of 25 partners marked a step towards an open and compliant on-chain ecosystem for the euro. He added that European institutions were prioritising euro-native on-chain settlement as part of their move into digital assets.
Luxembourg role
Spuerkeess said Qivalis would act as strategic infrastructure for tokenisation and distributed ledger technology, allowing the bank to expand its product range and develop new services for clients.
Aly Kohll, chief operating officer at Spuerkeess, stated that DLT represented a significant opportunity for financial innovation and for the development of Luxembourg’s financial centre. He added that the bank wanted to contribute to robust and regulated digital payment solutions adapted to the needs of the real economy.
The Qivalis stablecoin is intended to complement public initiatives such as the digital euro, as well as central bank work on digital currencies for interbank exchanges and financial markets. The consortium said potential use cases include payments, securities settlement, tokenised bonds, receivables, real estate and programmable payments.
Sovereignty angle
Qivalis stated that only 0.2% of global stablecoin circulation is currently euro-denominated, creating what it described as a structural dependency for European businesses.
Howard Davies, chair of the supervisory board of Qivalis, argued that the infrastructure was needed if Europe was to compete in the global digital economy while preserving strategic autonomy. He said the euro’s future role would depend partly on whether it is present as a settlement currency on the digital rails where global value moves.
The consortium said its infrastructure would rely on institutional technology standards and DLT, allowing assets to be recorded and exchanged in a decentralised and secure environment while integrating with existing financial systems.
