Qivalis's 37-institution euro stablecoin awaits Dutch approval

Qivalis B.V., a company founded in Amsterdam by a growing consortium of European banks, wants to issue a euro-pegged stablecoin regulated under the EU's Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCA). As of 5 October 2026, the company said it had 37 member financial institutions across 15 European countries. It also said, in the same statement, that it remained unauthorised and was not yet issuing electronic money or providing payment services to the public.

That gap between scale and status is the story. A 37-institution consortium gives Qivalis potential distribution reach across Europe. It does not, by itself, mean a regulator has approved the token, that the token exists, or that any bank has committed to using it at volume.

For UK readers, the immediate question is not whether to use a Qivalis token — it does not yet exist — but how to think about a euro stablecoin that would be issued and supervised in the Netherlands, not the UK, if and when it launches. Sterling businesses that pay or get paid in euros, or that settle tokenised assets cross-border, are among those for whom this kind of project could be relevant, even though no UK regulator would authorise the issuer.

What Qivalis is building

Qivalis, registered in the Dutch Trade Register under number 98235680, says it was founded in September 2025. It has applied to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) for authorisation as an electronic money institution under the Dutch Financial Supervision Act.

The company's stated design is a euro-denominated token backed 100%, or 1:1, by euro reserves, held with regulated custodians and segregated from Qivalis's own balance sheet. It describes the intended uses as on-chain euro payments and settlement, including institutional settlement, with selected partners distributing the token.

These are planned design features, not independently verified operating arrangements. No live reserve report, custodian appointment, audit or final white paper was located in the sources reviewed for this article. The token's name, ticker, blockchain network and technical standard have not been established from the available sources, and which exchanges or payment firms would distribute it has not been disclosed.

Why 37 institutions matters, and what it doesn't prove

On 20 May 2026, Qivalis said 25 institutions had joined its existing 12 members, more than tripling the consortium to 37. The original 12 included BNP Paribas, ING, UniCredit, BBVA, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, KBC, SEB, Raiffeisen Bank International, Banca Sella, DekaBank and DZ BANK. The 25 additions announced that day included ABN AMRO, Rabobank, Intesa Sanpaolo, Erste Group, Groupe BPCE, Nordea, Handelsbanken, Bank of Ireland, AIB and Banco Sabadell, among others, bringing institutions from 15 European countries into the project.

That footprint matters because it suggests potential settlement and distribution reach across the institutions and countries involved. It does not establish adoption. The research available does not set out the consortium's governance, voting rights, capital contributions, or whether each member has made a binding commitment to use or distribute the token once it exists. No evidence has been found that a UK-incorporated bank belongs to the consortium, though some members operate across borders including in the UK; their specific UK roles and permissions, if any, have not been established.

Qivalis has also described itself, at different points, as founded by "37 banks" and as having "37 financial institutions" as members. The precise legal status of each institution has not been verified against the banking definition, so this article uses "financial institutions" as the more accurate description.

The regulatory gate

Under MiCA, which the EU adopted on 31 May 2023 and whose stablecoin provisions became applicable from 30 June 2024, a token that references a single official currency — such as the euro — is classed as an electronic money token. Its issuer must be authorised as a credit institution or an electronic money institution, must notify a cryptoasset white paper, and must give holders the right to redeem the token at any time and at par value, under Article 49(4) of the regulation. The European Banking Authority has said any holder may exercise that redemption right without needing a direct contractual relationship with the issuer.

DNB supervises electronic money tokens and asset-referenced tokens in the Netherlands, and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets has responsibilities for cryptoasset service providers and receives electronic-money-token white papers alongside DNB. Qivalis's application to DNB for electronic money institution status is a necessary precondition for issuing the token, but it is not sufficient on its own: MiCA also requires notification of a cryptoasset white paper, described above, before the token can legally be issued.

As of the 12 October 2026 research cut-off for this article, no evidence had emerged of a DNB authorisation decision or a register entry for Qivalis. The company's own 5 October statement confirmed the application remained pending.

Progress and the launch timetable

Qivalis's own language has shifted. In May 2026 it described an anticipated launch in the second half of the year. By October, with DNB authorisation still pending, it had narrowed this to a target of launching before year-end 2026. Both are company targets, not regulator-confirmed timetables. The company's own description of itself working towards a "fully regulated euro stablecoin" describes an intended end state, not its current status.

What this means for UK firms

A Qivalis token, if launched, would be issued by a Dutch entity and supervised by DNB under an EU framework. MiCA is not UK law. Dutch authorisation would not make Qivalis a UK-issued stablecoin, and it would not make Qivalis's issuer FCA-authorised, regardless of how many UK businesses later hold or use the token.

That does not mean UK businesses are untouched. The direct relevance for a sterling business is in euro treasury management, cross-border payments, and settlement of tokenised assets — areas where a Dutch-regulated euro token could, in principle, be used. Any claimed savings in cost, speed or liquidity remain prospective until the token launches and operating data becomes available.

The UK perimeter from 25 October 2027

The UK's cryptoasset regime is being built in stages. Parliament passed the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Cryptoassets) Regulations 2026 on 4 February 2026, and the FCA published final policy statements on 30 June 2026, alongside a joint paper with the Bank of England on regulating systemic stablecoin issuers. The FCA's authorisation gateway opened on 30 September 2026. The broader regime is scheduled to take effect on 25 October 2027.

Before 25 October 2027, UK firms are not free of relevant obligations simply because the broader regime has not yet commenced. The current UK perimeter still applies to activities involving a token such as a prospective Qivalis stablecoin, and depending on exactly what a firm does, this can include the existing financial-promotion regime for qualifying cryptoassets and anti-money-laundering registration and controls that apply to UK cryptoasset businesses. Which of these apply, and how, is activity-specific; this article does not reach a legal conclusion for any individual firm.

Under that framework, the FCA will directly regulate stablecoin issuance from a UK establishment. It will not directly regulate overseas issuance such as a Dutch-issued Qivalis token. However, UK firms that deal in, arrange transactions in, safeguard, or admit an overseas-issued stablecoin may still fall within FCA authorisation or UK designated-activity requirements from that date, depending on their exact activities and customer reach. HM Treasury's September 2026 policy note on the draft statutory instrument acknowledged potential friction here: overseas stablecoins used for cross-border payments can remain within dealing and arranging rules even where a UK-issued equivalent might be treated differently.

There is also a separate, more remote route. If HM Treasury recognised an overseas non-sterling stablecoin as systemic, the Bank of England could bring it within its own regulatory remit, and the Bank has said it may defer to the home regulator — in this case DNB — where that best protects UK financial stability and the overseas regime produces similar outcomes. Qivalis has not been recognised as systemic by HM Treasury, and no evidence suggests this is imminent; this is a possible future route, not the project's current position.

The exact UK permissions a business would need depend on the specific activity involved — simply paying with the token differs from marketing, dealing, arranging, admitting, exchanging or safeguarding it. That is a firm-specific question that depends on final UK rules and a firm's own activities, which this article does not attempt to resolve for any individual business.

Risks and what remains unresolved

Cryptoassets can lose value, and access to them can be interrupted, despite a stated reserve or redemption design. Separately, because the token is designed to track the euro rather than sterling, a UK business holding or receiving it would carry foreign-exchange exposure: its value in pounds can rise or fall with movements in the euro-sterling exchange rate, regardless of how the token's reserves, redemption process or operations perform. The sources reviewed do not establish Financial Services Compensation Scheme or Financial Ombudsman Service protection for Qivalis tokens, and this article does not assume either applies. A Qivalis token's eventual redemption procedure, fees, eligible customers, transaction limits, settlement finality and insolvency treatment would depend on its final MiCA white paper and customer terms, none of which had been located in the sources reviewed for this article.

What to watch next

The clearest marker of progress will be a decision on Qivalis's Dutch electronic money institution application, which would appear in DNB's public register. After that, the company's MiCA white paper — required before any token can legally be issued — would set out the reserve composition, redemption mechanics and risk disclosures that remain unpublished today. On the UK side, firms handling cross-border euro payments should watch the FCA's and HM Treasury's further guidance on the perimeter for overseas-issued stablecoins ahead of the 25 October 2027 commencement date, available through the FCA's and HM Treasury's own publications rather than through any commercial intermediary.