By PYMNTS | October 14, 2026
Euro-pegged stablecoin project Qivalis has received permission from the Dutch central bank to operate as an electronic money institution.
The authorization from the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), announced Wednesday (Oct. 14), places the company under direct, ongoing supervision by DNB and fulfills a primary regulatory condition for issuing euro-denominated electronic money tokens (EMTs).
“Europe’s currency deserves Europe’s rules—on-chain,” Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, said in a news release. “With this authorization, Qivalis has taken a very important step towards issuing a euro-denominated EMT. As financial activity moves on-chain, the rules and supervision governing that infrastructure become a question of European autonomy.
Sell added that Qivalis believes Europe should have a euro-denominated on-chain settlement asset subject to European laws and regulatory standards and that this approval “marks an important step towards making that a reality.”
Founded in September 2025 and headquartered in Amsterdam, Qivalis operates independently while drawing backing from 37 major European banking institutions spanning 15 countries. The firm plans to issue its euro-denominated token under a full reserve model, aiming to establish payment and settlement infrastructure for institutional financial market participants.
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Distribution will follow a business-to-business structure rather than targeting general retail consumers directly. Qivalis intends to distribute the digital tokens through partners such as commercial banks, financial exchanges, payment service providers and market infrastructure operators, the release added.
In other stablecoin news, PYMNTS wrote last week that while payments with these tokens might have “eliminated hours of settlement friction, they haven’t eliminated the financial infrastructure waiting on the other side.”
The PYMNTS Intelligence study “Waiting for Certainty: Why Most CFOs Are Holding Back on Crypto and Stablecoins” found in March that 88% of firms that receive stablecoins convert them straight away into U.S. dollars.
“Chief financial officers still run payroll through banks, mid-market suppliers still expect conventional currency, and even the most forward-thinking corporate treasurers still need deposits they can invest, borrow against and use to meet obligations today,” the report added.
The economics of the coins are compelling at the point of transfer, the report continued, arguing that multinationals can potentially receive dollar-denominated value from a customer overseas without waiting on traditional correspondent banking processes.
“Money can move around the clock, across jurisdictions, with greater settlement speed,” PYMNTS added. “These possibilities are generating excitement at the highest levels of the payment ecosystem.”
For example, Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said recently that cross-border transactions are showing to be the strongest use case for stablecoins.