12-bank Kivalis consortium targets EU license by September
Private sector-led stablecoin projects are entering a full-scale phase in Europe
Private sector-led stablecoin projects are entering a full-scale phase in Europe as well. Amid the spreading discussions on digital currencies such as the digital euro, wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and tokenized deposits, 12 major European commercial banks have teamed up for a stablecoin project.
Jean-Luc Gustave, Head of Asia-Pacific at Kivalis, stated at the ‘OFF 2026 On-chain Finance Forum’ held at the FKI Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, on afternoon of May 15, “The payment flow between Europe and Korea alone reaches a scale of $5 trillion annually,” and added, “Stablecoins are the core instrument that will lead innovation in this market.”
He said, “In the past, merely having a conversation with banks or regulatory agencies on the topic of digital assets was almost impossible,” noting, “Now, we are entering a tokenization phase ranging from financial assets like bonds and stocks to real-world assets (RWA).”
Kivalis is a consortium-based stablecoin project in which 12 European banks participate. It is structured to issue Electronic Money Tokens (EMT) in accordance with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, the digital asset regulatory framework of the European Union (EU), and is currently pursuing license acquisition under the supervision of the Dutch financial authorities. The target timeframe is this coming September.
The area Kivalis pays particular attention to is on-chain-based cross-border payments. General Manager Gustave emphasized, “It is an area where not only technology but also people, regulations, and compliance must evolve together,” but added, “This trend will never stop.”
He evaluated that stablecoins hold the greatest competitiveness even as discussions on various digital currencies, such as the digital euro, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and deposit tokens, continue. General Manager Gustave stated, “Stablecoins are the most advanced in terms of efficiency and scalability,” and said, “They will play a role like blood in the digital financial system.”
He then explained, “Watching private stablecoin operators like Circle, traditional banks are feeling a sense of crisis regarding financial disintermediation,” and added, “This is why banks are moving quickly right now.”
General Manager Gustave believes that a consortium model is more important than a method where individual banks independently issue stablecoins. He said, “If each bank builds its own stablecoin, market fragmentation could deepen,” and noted, “A consortium approach that shares common assets at the EU level is the core.”
Currently, major European banks including BNP Paribas, UniCredit, and CaixaBank are participating in the Kivalis consortium. General Manager Gustave explained, “UniCredit is a bank with strong market dominance in Italy, and CaixaBank in Spain,” and added, “Thanks to the participation of these regional-based banks, we can experiment with various use cases for each country.”
The operational structure takes the form of a ‘two-tier distribution model’. It is a system where Kivalis is only in charge of issuance and redemption tasks, while custody solution companies, liquidity providers, market makers (MM), exchanges, and on/off-ramp operators form a distribution network to provide services to end users. The revenue model is currently centered on reserve management profits. The possibility of introducing transaction fees or premium service fees in the future is also under review.
Thomas Cho, Head of APAC Growth at the Canton Network Foundation, emphasized in his presentation on this day that the introduction of blockchain in the traditional financial sector is moving beyond the proof-of-concept stage and entering the actual operational stage, and he also mentioned the need to reorganize the capital market infrastructure in Korea.
The Canton Network is an institutional blockchain network built by Digital Asset, an American blockchain company. It was officially launched in 2024. Currently, institutions such as the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in the United States and JPMorgan are participating in the network. The Canton Foundation is a non-profit foundation responsible for the neutral operation and governance of the network.
Head Cho stated, “I recently toured major Asian markets such as Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore and held discussions with financial institutions,” and added, “Now, various departments, including financial operations teams and market infrastructure teams, are gathering together to discuss ‘how to implement it in the actual system’.”
He cited ‘fragmentation’ as the keyword most frequently mentioned in the field. Head Cho pointed out, “Assets are tokenized in different places, and the compliance, settlement, and risk management layers are also operated in a fragmented manner,” and noted, “In Korea as well, there are situations where large institutional funds or Money Market Funds (MMF) are still tied to settlement cycles, making it impossible to utilize assets as real-time collateral.” He then explained, “This is not so much a limitation of the technology itself, but rather a problem of a lack of coordination between different systems.”
He then also explained the meaning of tokenization. Head Cho emphasized, “Tokenization is not simply about digitizing assets, but about increasing the coordination layer of assets and the utility of collateral,” and stated, “It is also a process of creating an asset management system that actually works across different systems.”
Lee Song-hoon
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