Ripple Reveals Two European Banks Use Its Custody Services as Euro Stablecoin Launch Nears
Key Facts
Ripple said in a Nov. 9, 2026, post that BBVA and DZ BANK, members of the Qivalis consortium, are already using Ripple Custody as the consortium prepares to issue a euro-denominated stablecoin. The company said the banks’ use of its services does not mean they have chosen it to custody or manage the new coin; each bank will decide separately. Qivalis, based in Amsterdam, comprises 37 European banks in 15 countries, according to a company statement on its license. The consortium plans to issue the coin in the coming months, after the Dutch central bank reviews its white paper, Ripple said. The move places institutional custody services at the center of the relationship between the digital infrastructure company and the banking consortium, while the decision to adopt them for the new coin remains separate from the banks’ current use.
Qivalis obtained an electronic money institution license from the Dutch central bank on Oct. 14, 2026, and became subject to its supervision and eligible to issue euro-denominated electronic money tokens, according to its announcement. The license is a regulatory step ahead of issuance, but does not set a final launch date for the coin. Ripple said the planned issuance is awaiting the central bank’s review of the consortium’s white paper. Qivalis announced in May that 25 new banks had joined, bringing the number of financial institutions in the consortium to 37 and expanding its reach to 15 European countries. In December 2025, when the consortium comprised ten banks, it was working on its license application and targeting a launch in the second half of 2026.
Ripple says the planned coin is backed by the euro at a 1:1 ratio and designed as institutional infrastructure for payments, settlement and tokenized assets. Qivalis presented the project as a way to move corporate treasury liquidity around the clock, with instant settlement of tokenized assets, including bonds, receivables and real estate. The company said in May that euro-denominated stablecoins accounted for 0.2% of global stablecoin trading. In its November post, Ripple said the market capitalization of these coins had risen from about 50 million euros at the start of 2024 to 450 million euros by January 2026. It compared that with a dollar-denominated stablecoin market worth about 300 billion dollars, highlighting the difference in scale between the two markets, according to its estimates.
Qivalis is seeking to build a broad banking network around the coin after rapidly expanding its membership during 2026. In December 2025, BNP Paribas joined a consortium that then comprised ten European banks, before Qivalis added 25 banks the following May. The company presented its expansion as support for on-chain payment and settlement infrastructure for businesses and consumers. In a report on the consortium’s expansion in May, Reuters noted the European Central Bank’s skepticism about the project’s benefits and said the value of circulating tokens for SG-FORGE’s euro-denominated stablecoin was 105.6 million euros at the time. This places the project in the context of an emerging European market in which euro-denominated stablecoins remain small compared with the dollar market, according to figures cited by Ripple and Qivalis.
Ripple’s disclosures draw on existing relationships with the two banks, but do not establish that the consortium or all its members will choose its technology for the new coin. The company said DZ BANK, one of Germany’s largest custodian banks, has 350 billion euros in assets under custody. It also said one of the bank’s first uses of the custody services involved Siemens’ tokenized bond, in which DZ BANK and Union Investment invested. For BBVA, Ripple said it launched a service for trading and custody of crypto assets in Spain after Spain’s MiCA framework took effect in July 2025, with the service previously available in Switzerland and Turkey. Ripple Vice President and Managing Director Cassie Craddock said clarity on European rules had encouraged banks to launch digital asset offerings their customers were seeking.