Spanish banking giant BBVA joins the EU's stablecoin project, challenging the dominance of the dollar

Spain's second-largest bank BBVA has announced its membership in Qivalis, becoming the 12th member bank of the Amsterdam-based stablecoin project.

Qivalis aims to launch a euro-pegged regulated stablecoin, providing digital euro payment and settlement options for the EU market while challenging the dominance of the US dollar stablecoins. Current members of the project include major EU banks such as BNP Paribas, ING, and UniCredit, with the goal of issuing stablecoins through a banking network to provide payment channels for businesses and consumers without relying on third parties outside of blockchain or the traditional financial system. Currently, the global stablecoin market is approximately $300 billion, of which only $860 million is pegged to a single euro. US dollar stablecoins still dominate: Tether's USDT has a market cap of about $185 billion, while Circle Internet's USDC has a market cap of about $70 billion.