US Stablecoins Just Got Federal Regulation

The US GENIUS Act in July 2025 changed the game completely. Dollar stablecoins aren't just private sector experiments anymore - they're federally regulated financial instruments with comprehensive oversight. The Act requires 1:1 reserve backing with liquid assets and licensing through banks or approved institutions.

Goldman Sachs called it the "Summer of Stablecoins" because institutional adoption accelerated dramatically once regulatory uncertainty disappeared. From Europe's perspective, this creates an uncomfortable reality: while dollar stablecoins aren't government-backed, they now carry the legitimacy of comprehensive federal regulation that European alternatives are still developing. Since dollar stablecoins control 99% of the global market, the U.S. has effectively established the regulatory gold standard for stablecoin operations worldwide.

Alipay Europe Secures Internal Settlement Token Authorization

Alipay (Europe) Limited S.A. secured MiCA authorization from Luxembourg's CSSF to issue Euro-denominated E-Money tokens exclusively for wholesale settlement between its own affiliates across EU member states. The European subsidiary of Ant International - itself spun off from Alibaba Group and headquartered in Singapore - can now use blockchain technology for internal cross-border operations to improve operational efficiency within its global network.

The regulatory approval follows proper MiCA procedures for E-Money token authorization. Rather than broad public tokenization, this authorization enables regulated blockchain adoption for internal treasury operations between company affiliates - not for individual users, merchants, or trading on exchanges.

Digital Euro Timeline Creating Competitive Windows

The ECB has delayed the digital Euro launch until 2028-2029, creating a multi-year window where private and foreign players can establish dominance in European digital currency markets. This timeline allows the nine-bank consortium to launch their stablecoin in H2 2026 and build user adoption before any government alternative becomes available.

Nine Major Banks Form Stablecoin Consortium

Nine major European banks - ING, UniCredit, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, SEB, Raiffeisen Bank International, KBC, and Banca Sella - announced consortium formation in September 2025 to launch a MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin by H2 2026. This represents the largest coordinated European response to digital currency competition.​

The consortium will establish operations in the Netherlands under Dutch Central Bank supervision as an e-money institution. UniCredit's Fiona Melrose emphasized their goal: providing "a real European alternative to the US-dominated stablecoin market" and contributing to "Europe's strategic autonomy in payments".​

Global Infrastructure Embraces Blockchain

The momentum extends beyond European banks to core global financial infrastructure. On September 28, 2025, SWIFT announced at Sibos 2025 a partnership with Consensys to develop a blockchain-based shared ledger for real-time cross-border payments. Working with over 30 global financial institutions including Bank of America, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Citi, SWIFT will integrate blockchain technology into the infrastructure that connects 11,500+ institutions across 200+ countries.​

This represents a fundamental shift where traditional financial messaging infrastructure embraces blockchain rather than competing against it. SWIFT CEO Javier Perez-Tasso acknowledged the seeming contradiction: "You may think, 'Wow, aren't those opposites? Swift and blockchain. TradFi and DeFi. Can they really go together?' In the regulated system of the future, we believe they can".​

Central Bank Support
The Banque de France has endorsed private sector Euro stablecoin development. On October 9, 2025, at the Fintech Forum organized by France's financial supervisory authorities (ACPR and AMF), Governor François Villeroy de Galhau welcomed the nine-bank consortium and called for European banks to focus on "their natural market of tomorrow: Euro-denominated stablecoins."

The Governor warned that continued USD stablecoin dominance "could weaken our monetary sovereignty" and emphasized that "we may end up having both [tokenized deposits and stablecoins], but we must not end up with neither."